SBK, Lecuona: “The Jerez tests didn’t allow me to figure out Honda's innovations”

The weather was the star of the show in Jerez, putting both teams and riders to the test, and Honda knows exactly what that means. Iker Lecuona was back on track after he was forced to skip the Mandalika races and the Phillip Island round following a bad injury during Friday’s free practice in Indonesia.

The rider from Spain took stock of the situation: “Unfortunately, we weren’t  able to take advantage of this test session, because the weather proved to be crazy during the three days, with wind, rain, storms, and sun,” he said. “We weren’t able to have constant conditions. Neither completely dry nor completely wet. This prevented us from riding like I wanted and figuring out the new components HRC brought.”

However, there was a positive aspect to all this:  “I felt good riding my bike, since the wet conditions made everything smoother and less demanding, allowing me to do more laps.”

Xavi Vierge agreed: “The weather conditions didn’t helped us, since we weren’t even able to ride on an entirely dry track,” he explained. “But we did get the chance to ride in wet conditions, and this will help us be ready in case of rain. I managed to move somewhat forward, and we better understood the direction to take when it rains, which will be very important next year because, sooner or later, we’ll have to race when it’s wet. So, I’m satisfied with this result, considering Honda’s hard work, with all the innovations they brought to Jerez. We’ll have to continue working to improve, with the aim of being ready to start again in January.”