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).

Iker Lecuona 7

P5

“Overall, I’m very happy with our first day here at Assen because I did not expect this kind of speed. I lapped alone in FP1 and FP2 and felt fast and comfortable on the bike, improving lap by lap. I think we have good pace for tomorrow. In FP2 I suffered a massive crash at turn 3, right at the start of the session, which left me with some pain in my right leg but luckily I wasn’t seriously hurt. I was out on very used tyres and lost the front, saved it, and then lost the rear. I want to thank the team because they fixed the bike extremely quickly and I was able to exit again for the final 15 minutes. Again, I improved lap by lap but didn’t have time to go quicker than I did this morning. All in all, I’m very happy. The bike is still a bit twitchy perhaps, but I feel better than I did at Aragón and am looking forward to tomorrow. Hopefully we can improve a little more in FP3 and then we’ll see about qualifying and Race 1.”

Xavi Vierge 97

P15

“It has been a challenging first day here at Assen, something we expected as this track is quite physically demanding. I’m struggling particularly through turns six and seven and in the last chicane where I need more body power to change direction quickly enough. Like at Aragón, I need to adapt and find the way to be as fast as I can, and the team and I are working to try and make the bike smoother. We made a good step forward between FP1 and FP2 and now we have important work to do this evening, analysing the data to see where we can improve and make another step tomorrow.”

WorldSBK 2022
Free Practice Round 02   Netherlands

Free Practices Combined Results after FP2

Sunny
Humidity
46%
Track Temp
29°C
Air Temp
18°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'34.382
2 Razgatlioglu Toprak 1 TUR PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'34.466 +0.084
3 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'34.680 +0.298
4 Lowes Alex 22 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'34.772 +0.390
5 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'34.884 +0.502
6 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'34.999 +0.617
7 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'35.016 +0.634
8 Baz Loris 76 FRA Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'35.320 +0.938
9 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'35.471 +1.089
10 Bassani Alex 47 ITA Motocorsa Racing Ducati 1'35.568 +1.186
11 Redding Scott 45 GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'35.571 +1.189
12 Öttl Philipp 5 GER Team GOELEVEN Ducati 1'35.723 +1.341
13 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 1'36.099 +1.717
14 Haslam Leon 91 GBR TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 1'36.160 +1.778
15 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'36.233 +1.851
16 Tamburini Roberto 2 ITA Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'36.300 +1.918
17 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA B-Max Racing Team BMW 1'36.595 +2.213
18 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'36.677 +2.295
19 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA Team Gil Motor Sport Yamaha 1'36.698 +2.316
20 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'36.720 +2.338
21 Laverty Eugene 50 IRE Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'36.872 +2.490
22 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'36.968 +2.586
23 Mercado Leandro 36 ARG MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'37.019 +2.637
24 Bernardi Luca 29 ITA BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 1'37.400 +3.018
25 Konig Oliver 52 CZE ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'37.877 +3.495
Location Information

“The Cathedral” of motorcycle racing as it is known colloquially, the TT Circuit Assen has been hosting WorldSBK races since 1992, and celebrated its 25thanniversary as a Superbike venue in 2016. TT Circuit Assen

Pole Position Left
Length 4.542 Km
Corners 18
Right Corners 12
Left Corners 6

Records

Pole Record 1'32.934 (175,944 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
Race Record 1'33.620 (174,65 Km/h) A. Bautista (Ducati V4, 2022 SPR)
All Time Record 1'32.934 (174,87 Km/h) T.Razgatlioglu (Yamaha YZF R1, 2022)
2023 Race 1 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)
2023 Superpole Race Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)
2023 Race 2 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati V4)