The sun shines on Lecuona and Vierge on Friday at Cremona
Placing fourth and tenth, Honda HRC riders Lecuona and Vierge make a positive start to the Cremona WorldSBK weekend.
Friday morning brought the first of three free practices for the World Superbike field at Italy’s Cremona Circuit. The Honda HRC team made a strong start, with factory riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona immediately demonstrating top ten pace. Continuing to refine the basic setup of their CBR1000RR-R machines with some minor adjustments tailored to Cremona’s unique layout, Iker was able to set a best of 1’29.621 and Xavi a 1’29.801, 0.463 and 0.643 seconds off the top, respectively. These initial results meant that the riders placed a provisional fourth and seventh as they prepared for the second session.
FP2 took place in the mid-afternoon in much warmer and trickier conditions (air 31°C, track 49°C), with the higher temperatures affecting the level of track grip. Despite this, the factory riders again hit the ground running, showing consistent pace right from the off. Coming within a couple of tenths of their earlier times, Iker and Xavi worked hard on their race pace. Positioning fourth and tenth in the day’s combined standings and satisfied with today’s overall performance and progress, the factory duo is feeling quietly confident heading into the weekend.
The Honda HRC team will be back in action on Saturday, lining up for the third practice, Superpole and the first of the weekend’s races.
Iker Lecuona 7
"It was a positive Friday. I pushed a bit more than the last two rounds, where I took things much easier on day one. But this Friday felt a bit different because last year we had a really good performance here, so I put more pressure on myself to be a bit more on the pace right away. So far, I feel really good on the bike. Even this morning, when we had some things to adjust on the bike, I was able to set a competitive lap time. By the afternoon, the team had done a great job to fix those issues. In FP2, conditions were trickier – it was much hotter, and we had some issues with rear grip. We’ve always struggled with that in hot conditions and today was no different. But we finished inside the top six also in the afternoon, which is a good result. We now know this track well, and it’s one of the stronger ones for us during the season. The most important thing for the race will be to try to avoid mistakes – I’ve seen many riders making errors today, myself included, especially in the braking zones. It’s easy to run a bit wide, or even crash. We just need to remain consistent. The goal right now is to keep improving and to try and be as strong as possible in qualifying. Then, of course, a top five finish would be great, and I’ll be aiming for that, but let’s wait and see how the race develops. It’s 23 laps, so the longest race in terms of laps and in hot conditions. It will be tough, but I feel very good physically and mentally."
Xavi Vierge 97
“A positive day from the start, and the feeling with the bike has been quite good. The conditions were very hot, especially for FP2, and we tried different things with the setup. The beginning of FP1 was very good, and I felt confident, so we decided to make a further change for the afternoon session. But I soon realized that I didn’t feel as comfortable. We changed the shock in an attempt to improve drive, but it had the opposite effect, and I started to experience a lot of spin, both with used and new tyres. Even so, we wanted to complete laps with new tyres to understand whether we were heading in the right direction or not. In the end, we saw that it wasn’t the best choice. That aside, our race pace is quite good. We are all very close, so now we need to focus on the qualifying lap, as we know it’s one of our weaker points. Even a tenth of a second can make a huge difference in qualifying, and also starting from a good position on the grid will make a big difference, especially here in Cremona”.
Free Practices Combined Results
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bulega Nicolò | 11 | ITA | ARUBA Racing - Ducati | Ducati | 1'29.158 |
2 | Razgatlioglu Toprak | 1 | TUR | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 1'29.465 / 0.307 |
3 | Petrucci Danilo | 9 | ITA | BARNI Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 1'29.537 / 0.379 |
4 | Lecuona Iker | 7 | SPA | Honda HRC | Honda | 1'29.621 / 0.463 |
5 | Bassani Axel | 47 | ITA | bimota by Kawasaki Racing team | Bimota | 1'29.640 / 0.482 |
6 | Lowes Sam | 14 | GBR | ELF Marc VDS Racing Team | Ducati | 1'29.669 / 0.511 |
7 | Locatelli Andrea | 55 | ITA | Pata Maxus Yamaha | Yamaha | 1'29.704 / 0.546 |
8 | Bautista Alvaro | 19 | SPA | ARUBA Racing - Ducati | Ducati | 1'29.730 / 0.572 |
9 | Lowes Alex | 22 | GBR | bimota by Kawasaki Racing team | Bimota | 1'29.767 / 0.609 |
10 | Vierge Xavi | 97 | SPA | Honda HRC | Honda | 1'29.801 / 0.643 |
11 | Iannone Andrea | 29 | ITA | Team Pata Go Eleven | Ducati | 1'29.951 / 0.793 |
12 | Gardner Remy | 87 | AUS | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | Yamaha | 1'29.986 / 0.828 |
13 | Redding Scott | 45 | GBR | Bonovo MGM Racing | Ducati | 1'30.028 / 0.870 |
14 | Montella Yari | 5 | ITA | BARNI Spark Racing Team | Ducati | 1'30.057 / 0.899 |
15 | Sofuoglu Bahattin | 99 | TUR | Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team | Yamaha | 1'30.079 / 0.921 |
16 | van der Mark Michael | 60 | NDL | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | BMW | 1'30.208 / 1.050 |
17 | Aegerter Dominique | 77 | SWI | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | Yamaha | 1'30.316 / 1.158 |
18 | Gerloff Garrett | 31 | USA | Kawasaki WorldSBK Team | Kawasaki | 1'30.448 / 1.290 |
19 | Vickers Ryan James | 17 | GBR | Motocorsa Racing | Ducati | 1'30.453 / 1.295 |
20 | Mackenzie Tarran | 95 | GBR | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team | Honda | 1'30.542 / 1.384 |
21 | Rea Jonathan | 65 | GBR | Pata Maxus Yamaha | Yamaha | 1'30.547 / 1.389 |
22 | Rabat Tito | 53 | SPA | Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team | Yamaha | 1'30.773 / 1.615 |
23 | Ruiu Gabriele | ITA | 1'31.371 / 2.213 | |||
24 | Zaidi Zaqhwan | 21 | MAL | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team | Honda | 1'32.800 / 3.642 |
Location Information
*Cremona Circuit: Strada Giuseppina 2, San Martino del Lago – 26040 (Cremona) Italy Tel: +39 0375 350359 E-mail: info@cremonacircuit.it Website: cremonacircuit.it ———————————————————– *Courtesy of DWO
POLE POSITION | RIGHT |
LENGTH | 3.768 Km |
CORNERS | 13 |
RIGHT CORNERS | 6 |
LEFT CORNERS | 7 |
Records
Pole Record | 1'27.953 (154,228 Km/h) D.Bulega (Ducati Panigale V4R, 2024) |
Race Record | 1'28.289 (153,641 Km/h) D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R, SPR, 2024) |
All Time Record | 1'27.953 (154,228 Km/h) D.Bulega (Ducati Panigale V4R, 2024) |
2024 Race 1 Winner | D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R) |
2024 Superpole Race Winner | D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R) |
2024 Race 2 Winner | D. Petrucci (Ducati Panigale V4R) |