Brazilian star Granado joins MIE Honda line-up for Estoril WorldSBK Round
Eric Granado joins the Estoril grid as teammate to Takumi Takahashi as the MIE Racing HONDA Team revert back to a two-rider squad
Brazilian Eric Granado will make his MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship debut with the MIE Racing HONDA Team at the Pirelli Estoril Round this weekend, joining Takumi Takahashi for the final event of the season. Granado has been a regular in World Championship competition since 2012 and now, the 2017 CEV Moto2™ Junior World Champion will step up to WorldSBK for the final round, becoming the first Brazilian rider since Alex Barros in 2006 to race in the Championship.
Three-time MotoE™ race winner Granado joins the MIE Racing HONDA Team, who have had a challenging first year with the all-new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. However, Granado has bags of experience across a wide spectrum of motorcycles and Championships and hopes that his skills and past Moto2™ World Championship experience can be put to good use this weekend. He has won at the Estoril circuit before, during his Championship season in the Moto2™ Junior World Championship, so could be fast from the get-go on Friday morning.
Speaking about the deal, Granado said: “I want to thank Honda Brazil for giving me a chance to be one of few riders in the country to race in the FIM Superbike World Championship. It will also be my first contact with the new CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP, and I am very happy about this. I've already raced at Estoril, which is a good thing, and have actually won two European Moto2 rounds at the track.”
Granado won the first ever races at Estoril in the CEV Moto2™ class back in 2017. In Race 1, he took the lead with two laps to go to beat Championship rival Ricard Cardus by less than a second whilst in Race 2, he took the lead on Lap 4 and only surrendered it on the penultimate lap to Cardus, before the two battled on the final lap before a collision at the tight chicane left Cardus on the ground and Granado with the win.
Continuing, Granado said: “I know this is a high-level competition though, and I have no expectations when it comes to results. I will be a new rider who needs to adapt, racing a new bike, so it’s another big challenge in terms of my career. I hope this is going to be a weekend in which I can learn a lot and carry this experience forward.”
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