Top five for Lecuona on day 1 of WorldSBK action at Assen, work in progress for Vierge

Round two of the 2022 Superbike World Championship is now underway at the Assen TT Circuit in The Netherlands, where Team HRC is in action with its factory riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.

During the morning’s initial free practice, the two Spaniards got reacquainted with the Dutch track aboard their CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADES. Fortunately, the weather remained dry and sunny, which allowed the riders to make the most of their track time. Looking comfortable right from the outset, Lecuona improved on his lap times and pace with every exit he made, taking a final step towards the end of session one to set a best of 1’34.884 and place a promising second as a result. Vierge had more difficulty during this opening phase, still dealing with the aftereffects of two recently broken ribs. Struggling particularly in the changes of direction at what is a very physical track, Xavi positioned eighteenth at the session’s end with a 1’37.262.

Mid-afternoon, the Superbike field was back out for the second practice but a crash at turn 3 for Lecuona brought an almost immediate red flag. Fortunately unhurt, although a little sore, Iker was able to return to the track for the final 15 minutes of the session. Despite making a series of increasingly fast laps, he was left with insufficient time to be able to improve on his morning’s best, but nevertheless rounded out day one in fifth position overall, just 5 tenths off provisional pole. Vierge quickly improved on his earlier time by almost a second, before continuing to shave off precious tenths during the course of the session. He closed with a best of 1’36.233, which saw him position fifteenth in Friday’s combined standings.

Action will resume tomorrow at 9am local time with the final free practice session, followed by the Superpole session at 11.10am and then the first of the weekend’s races, set to get underway at 2pm (CET).