Vierge and Lecuona looking for more at Aragón home round
The 2023 Superbike World Championship is at the Motorland Aragón circuit in Spain this weekend for the tenth of twelve rounds. This is essentially a home round for Team HRC and local heroes Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, all of whom will be looking to do their very best on home soil.
In 2022 Lecuona and Vierge placed sixth and seventh in race 1 at Motorland and look forward to this year’s edition, not least because the team has tested at Aragón on more than one occasion this season, in March and August. The aim is to harness all of the data previously collated in order to hit the ground running come Friday.
At the latest championship round, held at Magny-Cours in France less than two weeks ago, the riders battled their rivals in uncharacteristically hot conditions, which made for a particularly slippery track. The duo are hoping for a less complicated race weekend in Spain.
Inaugurated in 2009 and designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the Motorland Aragón facility is located in Alcañiz, part of Spain’s autonomous community of Aragón. Situated approximately 250 km from Barcelona, the circuit has hosted WorldSBK on a regular basis since 2011. 5077 metres in length, the track features seven right-hand turns and ten left-handers.
Weekend schedule (CEST – Central Europe Summer Time):
Friday
10.30 – 11.15 – SBK Free Practice 1
15.00 – 15.45 – SBK Free Practice 2
Saturday
9.00 – 9.30 – SBK Free Practice 3
11.10 – 11.25 – Superpole
14.00 – SBK Race 1
Sunday
9.00 – 9.15 – SBK Warm-up
11.00 – Superpole race
14.00 – SBK Race 2
Xavi Vierge 97
“Aragón is another home round, and a track where we had a fruitful testing session just a few weeks ago. We completed many laps and tried a lot of different things also in terms of set-up so part of the work is done ahead of the racing weekend. Now we just need to try and obtain all that we can from what we have, while on my side I’ll also be focusing on myself and my riding style. I’ve been training as usual since Magny Cours and have fully recovered from the hard crash I suffered in France, so I feel ready to begin and do my very best at Aragón”.
Iker Lecuona 7
“We have been to Aragón recently for some test sessions, which went quite well despite being affected by strong winds. I was happy with the way we worked there and, as well as testing some new items, we focused a little on the base set-up of the bike so hopefully that will help us to start the weekend on the right foot. We have the potential to do well enough at Aragón and be there in the second group but I prefer to wait and see, keeping my feet on the ground.”
Location Information
The MotorLand Aragon road racing circuit was opened in 2009 and in 2011 it became the fifth Spanish track to host the WorldSBK™ Championship. MotorLand Aragón Ctra. TE- V- 7033 KM. 1. 44600 Alcañiz (Teruel) – Spain motorlandaragon.com
| Pole Position | Right |
| Length | 5.077 Km |
| Corners | 17 |
| Right Corners | 7 |
| Left Corners | 10 |
Records
| Pole Record | 1'47.973 (169,276) J.Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 2023) |
| Race Record | 1'49.028 (167,638 Km/h) J.Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 2023) SPRC |
| All Time Record | 1'47.973 (169,276) J.Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 2023) |
| 2023 Race 1 Winner | M. Rinaldi (Ducati Panigale V4 R) |
| 2023 Superpole Race Winner | A. Bautista (Ducati Panigale V4 R) |
| 2023 Race 2 Winner | A. Bautista (Ducati Panigale V4 R) |
