Iker Lecuona praises Honda WorldSBK improvements after starting 2024 “from zero”

Iker Lecuona arrives at the end of his third season in WorldSBK with Honda having finally returned to the podium last time out in Estoril.

It was Lecuona’s second WorldSBK podium, the other coming in the 2022 Dutch Round when Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea both crashed out.

For Lecuona, it was the result of a strong season from HRC’s WorldSBK team that has seen it make significant progress in terms of performance for perhaps the first time since the project began in 2020.

“I’m really happy after the first podium after the season and second in WorldSBK,” Lecuona told WorldSBK ahead of the Spanish WorldSBK this weekend at Jerez.

“After all the injuries, all the work at home and at the track, we’re happy to have that result.”

Thinking about this weekend’s Jerez race, Lecuona said that the circuit is not one of the best for him or for the CBR1000RR-R, but he is encouraged by his recent form.

“I always said during these years that this is one of the worst tracks for us, or one I struggle at more during the last two years,” he said.

“It looks like we’re quite fast. I think from the summer, we did a good job on the bike; the pace was improving during the weekends.

“My strategy with my crew chief, the feeling on the bike, everything we improved a lot.

“When we started this year, I had a lot of injuries, but we also didn’t have a clear base on the bike. We started from zero.

“This year, we finished the year with a good base, so we’ll start next year from that base that is performing quite well.”