Significant work awaits the Honda HRC team at Assen

Honda HRC riders Vierge and Lecuona ready to work with their technicians to overcome the challenges of day 1 at Assen

The Honda HRC team is hard at work at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands, as round three of the Superbike World Championship gets underway for factory riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.

The first practice of the weekend took place in cool but dry conditions on Friday morning and proved more challenging than expected for Lecuona and Vierge. While Iker made gradual progress, particularly in the latter stages, Xavi had to deal with a technical issue in the garage, essentially sitting out the session while his crew worked on his CBR1000RR-R. This meant that Iker and Xavi concluded this initial phase in thirteenth (1’35.391) and twenty-second position (1’38.160) respectively, both looking for improvements in the afternoon’s FP2.

Both riders were able to make some progress during FP2, particularly Vierge who, with the earlier issue fully resolved, was soon able to find a rhythm and record a series of solid lap times. A best of 1’34.715 set in the final minutes saw the Spaniard move up the timesheets to finish fifteenth in the day’s combined standings, just over a second from the front.

Teammate Lecuona worked together with his crew to make a change to the bike’s setup but this didn’t produce the desired effect. The rider improved slightly on his earlier time, setting a 1’35.249 to complete day one in nineteenth place overall. The modification was useful in helping to define a clearer direction for tomorrow, and the team is ready to adjust the setup again in an effort to climb the standings.