Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) finished as Honda’s lead rider on Day 2 of the Official Test for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field with the #97 securing a top-ten position on the final day of pre-season testing before this weekend’s season-opening Australian Round. The Spanish star will be hoping his pace can translate into being in the rostrum fight after he and his team worked on the electronics of his CBR1000RR-R as well as the flag-to-flag process, with Race 1 and Race 2 in Australia set to have mandatory pit stops.
Vierge’s best lap time on Day 2, like the majority of the field, came in FP3. It was set on his 19th lap when he posted a 1’29.812s. In total, he completed six stints with the longest being eight laps in length. Seven of the laps could be considered representative, with all bar two of those seven in the 1’30s bracket. A 1’34.790s in the middle of the run could be discarded as not representative, while he posted a 1’31.550s on the penultimate lap of the run and a 1’29.950s on the final lap. His best time came in the third stint which was four laps long, although two laps could be ignored due to the big differential to the other two, when he posted a 1’30.001s and a 1’29.812s.
In total, the Honda had 13 laps in the 1’30s bracket as he worked on the electronics of his machine and continued adapting to the Ohlins suspension the Japanese manufacturer are now running. Despite poor weather impacting tests at both Jerez and Portimao prior to the paddock making the trip to Australia, Honda were able to use rain to test their new suspension and other components as they look to start the year how they ended 2024 after concluding last season in the rostrum hunt.
Reflecting on his test in Australia, Vierge said: “It’s been two positive days. 80% of the time, we had good conditions, which has been important for us because we had a lot of jobs to do. I’m happy because we made good progress in these days. We focused a lot on the electronics side, and we found some things. Here, tyre durability is super important, so we were focused on that and I’m quite happy with the job we’ve done.”
Honda had a difficult start to the 2024 season but were able to turn their fortunes around as the season progressed, becoming regular top-ten finishers in the middle part of the campaign and secured a podium at Estoril with Vierge’s teammate, Iker Lecuona. One question that’s been asked of Honda is whether they can start this year how they ended last season and, based on limited dry testing, it looks like they have passed that test with flying colours. The goal for them now will be to make steps as they did last season and turn those regular top-ten finishes into top-five results and fight for podiums more often.
Discussing Honda’s targets for the upcoming campaign, the Barcelona-born star said: “We need to be fighting for podiums as soon as possible. We are working super hard. The end of last season was good and the goal is start where we finished last year and built up for that. I think that’s what we’re doing right now. We’ll give our best in every race weekend to be fighting for those positions as soon as possible. The reality is that there or three or four riders that look like they’re in another level, but then I believe we can be one of the second group. We’ll work hard during these days to see if we’re able to find something more, and of course, in Australia, you never know; the weather changes a lot, also it’ll be a bit of a gamble with the flag-to-flag races. We’ll try to take profit of any opportunity we have.”
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Source: WorldSBK.com