Honda find electronics gains at Phillip Island World Superbike test

Honda’s Xavi Vierge feels he has made “good progress” at this week’s Phillip Island World Superbike test, but reckons there are “three or four riders” clearly ahead of him.

The Spanish rider, who this year enters his fourth season in the World Superbike Championship, felt he had been able to find gains with the electronic setup of his CBR1000RR-R during this week’s two days at Phillip Island ahead of the Australian Round on 21-23 February.

“It’s been two positive days,” Vierge told WorldSBK.com after finishing the second and final day of the test 13th-fastest.

“80 per cent 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.”

Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Vierge is setting his sights on the podium, somewhere he hasn’t been since Indonesia 2023.

“We need to be fighting for podiums as soon as possible,” the Spanish rider said of his expectations for the 2025 season.

“We are working super hard. The end of last season was good and the goal is to start where we finished last year and build up [from] 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 are 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.”