After a strong end to 2024’s MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season and a promising offseason, Honda HRC have hit the ground running in 2025 and look to be putting steps together with their Honda CBR1000 RR-R. Cremona was further evidence that riders Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) and teammate Iker Lecuona and their team’s work is beginning to translate to results. Apart from a pair of crashes from the #7, the worst result on the weekend for the duo was only P9. While these results are a clear improvement for Honda compared to past years, Team Manager Jose Escamez believes his riders have what it takes to take a step further and even fight for race wins.

“If we never try, we never know - we tried today and we ended with a top 7” Vierge proud of the incremental progress he and his team are making

Vierge’s Race 2 showed again the trend upwards he and his Honda HRC team have been displaying throughout 2025. Vierge has been in the top 10 six times already this season; by the fourth round of last season, he only had registered two, both P10’s. What’s more, Vierge has cracked the top 5 three times already this season, including two at Cremona Circuit’s Acerbis Italian Round, something he had only been able to do five times in his three seasons on WorldSBK prior to this one.

Vierge was upbeat in his analysis of his Sunday performance: “It really has been a very solid weekend for us, we showed our speed; we showed speed already in the first races this year on Saturday at Phillip Island however the next day on Sunday we made mistakes and couldn’t finish a solid weekend. This time around, we did it, this morning in the Warm-Up, I felt the changes we made to the bike, I felt like I had a little more potential, I had good pace; then in the Tissot Superpole Race with the race tyre, I did it in the 1’28 range. That was quite fast, and I was able to keep the pace to finish in the top 5. This helped me in the long race. I made a good start in Race 2 and I tried to keep up with the group at the front. I knew I wasn’t going to arrive with them because I need to compensate a lot on the entry, but my goal was to try to break away from the group behind me. Unfortunately, I pushed the tires too much at the beginning, and the last 6-7 laps I didn’t have anything left. I wanted to try to save the top 5, but it wasn’t possible. We need to learn from our mistakes, if we never try, we never know, we tried today and we ended with a top 7.”

“I had a big contact with van der Mark in the first lap… I lost a lot of positions as a result” - Lecuona’s Saturday-Sunday debrief

Lecuona’s weekend at Cremona was marred by crashes in Race 1 and the Tissot Superpole Race, crashing out from point-scoring positions in both instances including from P4 in Race 1. Lecuona did well to put the past behind him and returned in Race 2 to put on a show. After starting from P11, by the outset of Lap 2, he had fallen down to P13. From there, in three consecutive laps he gained a position, going on to finish in P6 after a late move to pass Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team).

Lecuona continued, talking about his experience in the weekend’s final race: “In Race 2, it took some laps to warm up the rear tyre, but when it wasn’t ready, honestly it was a big surprise because my pace was incredible, similar to Alvaro in P3. I don’t know how many riders I overtook, but in one moment I realised I could catch Xavi in P5, I caught the group, overtaking him and Sam, but Sam overtook me on the last lap. It was a fun race, lots of overtakes. I feel a lot of confidence and I feel very fast, overall, very happy with the job we did. Big thanks to my team because they helped me a lot, they worked really hard because I unfortunately destroyed a few bikes.”

STRIVING FOR MORE: “Xavi’s P5’s have been strong, but not strong enough, we want to win!”

Jose Escamez, Honda HRC Team Manager was proud of his riders but emphasised the team’s desire to strive for even more when speaking from the grid ahead of Race 2: “Xavi’s P5’s have been strong, but not strong enough, we want to win! It is true we have made some steps forward, and we are getting much more solid results. It was a pity with Iker’s crashes, but Xavi is doing a fantastic job. Iker was doing really well, and I think he did a great job, it’s a pity he pushed too much and lost the front in Race 1 and the Superpole Race.”

Catch Vierge and Lecuona next time out at Most, May 14^th -16^th with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 30% off!