WorldSBK: Xavi Vierge backs up Lecuona comments: “First impressions have been really good”

Honda’s full factory project has struggled to reach the heights many expected in recent seasons, however, a new bike for 2024 has Vierge very excited about the upcoming WorldSBK campaign.

Testing the new machine for the first time during a two-day test at Jerez, which concluded yesterday, Vierge backed up the comments made by team-mate Lecuona who said it’s a step forward.

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Vierge told WorldSBK.com: “We are happy. It has been a really good two days of testing and track conditions have been really good, so we can do many laps. 

“The first test has been more about adapting ourselves to the new bike. We didn’t want to change too much. We rode with the base setup that they prepared for us Tetsuta in Japan. The first impressions have been really good. 

“The bike looks similar but there are many changes. We really feel the strong points. 

“At the moment, we can’t take enough advantage about the new strong points but it’s just the beginning; we didn’t change many things on the bike, we just did laps to see how everything works. 

“Really happy and now we have some weeks to analyse all this data and to prepare a new plan for Portimao. We have another day before the winter break.”

Vierge started the test with the 2023-spec bike but as soon as he switched there was an immediate improvement.

The former Moto2 rider said: “I started with the old bike and when I jumped on the new bike, I immediately felt some strong points compared to the old bike. 

“We had two years with the old bike so, at the beginning, I felt a little bit strange in some areas. During these two days, I was able to adapt and start to feel better. 

“Right now, we are going a little bit faster than with the old bike, but the good point is that with the old bike, we always feel like we’re on the limit and we don’t know how to go faster, with this bike it’s like there’s a lot of room to improve. 

“We need to understand the direction to follow to take profit from all the new things.”