Honda finds setup progress at Aragon WorldSBK test

Another WorldSBK test for HRC as ended with positive conclusions, this time at the newly resurfaced MotorLand Aragon.

Honda went to test in Aragon off the back of one of its most positive weekends of the year at Magny-Cours, where both of its riders were in the top-10, and fighting for top-six positions, in all three races.

The new surface at Aragon, which made itself known at last month’s Aragon MotoGP round, also made for interesting conditions for HRC, which was able to gain an understanding of the new surface in advance of the WorldSBK Aragon Round coming up on 27–29 September.

“We’ve finished the Aragon test with good feelings,” said Xavi Vierge following the Aragon test, speaking to WorldSBK.com. “It’s been really good to come here because, with the new asphalt, everything’s changed. It was good to work on that.

“We focused the work on bike setup a lot and some different things on suspension. We found some positives.

“The new asphalt, on the racing line, has amazing grip. We need to adapt our bike to that. We made good progress and we finished with good race pace and a not-so-bad fast lap.

“I’m happy with that and now we move to Cremona, where we had the opportunity to have some test days which will be super important because it’s a new track on the calendar.

“The last rounds have been positive and I’m really looking forward, so let’s continue on the same line as the last races.”

Vierge’s HRC teammate, Iker Lecuona, echoed Vierge’s thoughts on the new track surface, and was similarly positive about some of the progress made with the setup of the Fireblade.

“We did one-and-a-half days of testing because we did all the jobs, and in the afternoon on day two it got very windy,” Lecuona said.

“We used the test to learn the track with the new asphalt. Everything changed. It was also to try some setups on the suspension area. Showa came here with new items, new ideas to try on the bike.

“We found something that we’ll try at the next round at Cremona next week. Overall, it was quite good.”