Team HRC riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge crossed the line eighth and tenth in the first race of the fifth Superbike World Championship round, taking place at the Misano World Circuit in Italy.

Both riders took a significant step in the morning’s FP3. In cooler conditions with respect to yesterday’s practices, Lecuona was able to lower his time by a good seven tenths as he and the team continued to prepare for the subsequent Superpole session. Vierge also shaved off another couple of tenths, although the focus, like yesterday, was on race preparation rather than the single lap.

Back out at 11.10am local time for a frantic Superpole qualifying session, the Team HRC duo both pushed to earn the best possible grid positions for the afternoon’s first race. Iker immediately set a very fast 1’33.830 to place a momentary second. By the end of this brief phase, the Spaniard was lying eighth thanks to that same lap time, meaning that he secured a spot on the third row of the grid for race 1. Team-mate Xavi was particularly unlucky, in that just as he was pushing to improve on his time – his second split time putting him within four tenths of leader Bautista’s best – a red flag interrupted proceedings and put a premature end to the session. He therefore closed with a best of 1’34.434 with which he placed sixteenth.

The first of the weekend’s three races ran in warm, sunny conditions but got underway a few minutes late and was reduced to a distance of 20 laps after another rider had a technical issue on the start grid. From row three, Lecuona was lying eighth by the end of lap one, team-mate Vierge thirteenth. The factory riders maintained these positions in the early stages, before Iker got involved in a battle with Lowes and Xavi moved up into twelfth place, before progressing to eleventh by lap thirteen. The Team HRC duo ultimately crossed the line eighth (Lecuona) and tenth (Vierge) in this first race of the weekend.

Team HRC will be back on track at Misano tomorrow for the 10-lap Superpole race followed, in the afternoon, by the final race of the weekend.

Iker Lecuona 7

P8

“I’m happy enough with the job we’ve done today because we continued on in the same positive way we saw in FP2, and also in FP3 this morning I had good feeling. As for qualifying, I placed P8 but very close in terms of lap time to the second row so I went into race 1 satisfied and aware that we could fight as part of the second group. I made a decent start but a few aggressive moves from some other riders into the first corner caused me to drop back from the second group. I tried catching them again but in doing so I realized I was overly stressing the tyres. I decided to try and conserve them for a few laps and when Alex (Lowes) overtook me, I tried to follow him and also open a gap to the chasing pack. I was able to stick with Alex until more or less five laps from the end but then the tyres suffered a big drop, probably due to the fact that I had pushed a lot earlier on, and Remy (Gardner) closed in on me. I had a good battle with him and we passed each other in the last lap but ultimately I was able to defend eighth place so all in all we can be satisfied with the fact we’re back at a good level again. Now it’s time to check the data and try to make another step for tomorrow. The weather could change a bit so we will see.”

Xavi Vierge 97

P10

“We were expecting much more from today but starting so far back on the grid made everything really difficult, especially at a track like Misano. What frustrated me the most is that we had the potential to do much better but were once again very unlucky in qualifying, in that we had a yellow flag with my first tyre and then the session was red flagged just as I was making a very fast lap with the second tyre. So it was a very hard race from sixteenth in the grid. Over the first laps I wasn’t able to overtake because we’re losing a bit out of the corners and the straights are not long enough here to exploit our top speed, so it wasn’t easy to close in on those ahead. Once conditions allowed me to pass a few riders, following a general drop in the tyres, it was too late to try and score a better result. Top ten is not that bad but it's not what we want to achieve. It is what it is anyway, and we will try and earn a better starting position for race 2 by finishing top nine in the sprint race. That would help us to be more competitive in race 2.”

WorldSBK 2023
Race Round 05   Rimini

Results Tissot Superpole

Sunny
Humidity
69%
Track Temp
39°C
Air Temp
24°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'33.017
2 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'33.182 0.165
3 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'33.266 0.249
4 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 1'33.403 0.386
5 Bassani Axel 47 ITA Motocorsa Racing Ducati 1'33.430 0.413
6 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'33.578 0.561
7 Aegerter Dominique 77 SWI GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'33.821 0.804
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'33.830 0.813
9 Gardner Remy 87 AUS GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'33.997 0.980
10 Lowes Alex 22 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'34.016 0.999
11 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'34.065 1.048
12 Redding Scott 45 GBR ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'34.134 1.117
13 Öttl Philipp 5 GER Team GOELEVEN Ducati 1'34.264 1.247
14 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'34.268 1.251
15 Ray Bradley 28 GBR Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'34.371 1.354
16 Gardner Remy 87 AUS GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 1'34.434 1.417
17 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'34.446 1.429
18 Baldassarri Lorenzo 34 ITA GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 1'34.494 1.477
19 Sykes Tom 66 GBR ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'34.522 1.505
20 Baz Loris 76 FRA Bonovo Action BMW BMW 1'35.247 2.230
21 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'35.796 2.779
22 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA B-Max Racing Team BMW 1'36.025 3.008
23 Rabat Tito 53 SPA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 1'36.350 3.333
24 Vinales Isaac 32 SPA TPR by Vinales Racing Kawasaki 1'36.630 3.613
25 Vitali Luca 70 ITA ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'37.246 4.229
26 Mizuno Ryo 88 JPN PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda
WorldSBK 2023
Race Round 05   Rimini

Results Race 1 - (20 laps)

Sunny
Humidity
63%
Track Temp
45°C
Air Temp
24°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Bautista Alvaro 1 SPA 25 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati Time of Race 31'29.279
2 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA 20 ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 5.221
3 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR 16 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 8.971
4 Bassani Axel 47 ITA 13 Motocorsa Racing Ducati 14.285
5 Rea Jonathan 65 GBR 11 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 18.594
6 Aegerter Dominique 77 SWI 10 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 19.021
7 Lowes Alex 22 GBR 9 Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 21.036
8 Lecuona Iker 7 SPA 8 Team HRC Honda 23.751
9 Gardner Remy 87 AUS 7 GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team Yamaha 24.011
10 Vierge Xavi 97 SPA 6 Team HRC Honda 29.081
11 Redding Scott 45 GBR 5 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 29.430
12 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA 4 PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 30.139
13 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA 3 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 30.562
14 Öttl Philipp 5 GER 2 Team GOELEVEN Ducati 33.210
15 Baldassarri Lorenzo 34 ITA 1 GMT94 Yamaha Yamaha 34.858
16 Sykes Tom 66 GBR 0 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 35.778
17 Baz Loris 76 FRA 0 Bonovo Action BMW BMW 38.489
18 Ray Bradley 28 GBR 0 Yamaha MotoxRacing WorldSBK Team Yamaha 40.374
19 Rabat Tito 53 SPA 0 Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 56.950
20 Vinales Isaac 32 SPA 0 TPR by Vinales Racing Kawasaki 1'03.273
21 Mizuno Ryo 88 JPN 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 1'30.052
22 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA 0 BARNI Spark Racing Team Ducati 6 Laps
23 Syahrin Hafizh 35 MAL 0 PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Team Honda 12 Laps
24 Vitali Luca 70 ITA 0 ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki
25 Ruiu Gabriele 16 ITA 0 B-Max Racing Team BMW
Location Information

Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” Via Daijiro Kato, 10 47843 Misano Adriatico (RN) – Italy Misanocircuit.com

POLE POSITION RIGHT
LENGTH 4.226 Km
CORNERS 16
RIGHT CORNERS 10
LEFT CORNERS 6

Records

Pole Record 1'32.320 (164,792 Km/h) T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR, 2024)
Race Record (SPRC) 1'32.687 (164,140 Km/h) T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR, 2024 SPRC)
All Time Record 1'32.320 (164,792 Km/h) T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR, 2024)
2024 Race 1 Winner T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR)
2024 Superpole Race Winner T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR)
2024 Race 2 Winner T. Razgatlioglu (BMW M 1000 RR)