Team HRC concludes official testing and prepares for Phillip Island season-opener

Team HRC and its riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge have concluded the final pre-season test at Philip Island, Australia, as they prepare for the opening round of the 2023 Superbike World Championship this coming weekend.

On track on both Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 February, Team HRC tested alongside the rest of the WorldSBK field, exploiting two sessions of two hours each on both days and blessed by hot and sunny conditions, something the two factory riders particularly appreciated having not often experienced this at Phillip Island during their time in the MotoGP championship. Iker and Xavi nevertheless experienced some ups and downs as they worked tirelessly with their respective teams to iron out the details of their world championship preparation. Two crashes, on Monday and Tuesday morning, complicated things a bit more for Vierge, but he suffered no physical consequences and was able to further improve on his lap times. Lecuona traced a more linear path, progressing little by little in every session, especially in terms of his race pace on used tyres. There is nevertheless still room to improve when it comes to exploiting the new tyres.

The Team HRC engineers now have two days in which to analyse all the data collated and make final preparations for round one, with the first practice sessions of the season set to kick off on Friday morning.

In last season’s Australian finale, Vierge scored a best result of eighth in the races, while Lecuona was prevented from competing after having sustained injury at the previous Indonesian round. The factory riders will be looking to start 2023 with a bang, both fully fit and encouraged by the experience gained during 2022, their ‘rookie’ season.

The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is located in the state of Victoria, to the south of Melbourne. Officially inaugurated in 1956, it is located on the coast which makes for a pretty spectacular backdrop. One of the riders’ favourite circuits, the track measures 4.445k and comprises twelve turns – 7 left-hand corners and 5 right-handers – as well as an 835-metre start/finish straight. Last year it was the stage for the final championship round, and so the 2023 quite literally begins where 2022 left off.