With the 2022 World Superbike (WSBK) championship set to kick off in Aragon, France on April 8 to 10, Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) has unveiled its racing livery for the Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblade. The factory Honda Team HRC will be crewed by twenty-two year old Iker Lecuona and 24 year old Xavi Vierge, both from Spain.
Lecuona comes to WSBK from MotoGP where he raced for Tech3 in the 2021 season. While team mate Miguel Oliveira was promoted to the KTM Factory Team for 2022, Lecuona was left without a seat after Tech3 signed Moto2 World Champion Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández from Red Bull KTM Ajo for 2022.
Vierge raced for Petronas Sprinta Racing Team in Moto2, having a lack lustre season in 2022, finishing 11th in the championship with one third place podium finish. The last year HRC won the WSBK championship was in 2007, with James Toseland with a total of six championship wins in the modern era since 1988 – 1988, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2002 as well as 2007.
Leon Camier, team manager of Honda Team HRC, was confident going into the 2022 season, saying, “technically, a few changes have been made to the bike and everyone is very excited about the work that’s been done in Japan. We know everyone has been working hard and we are keen to see what kind of progress we can make this year.”
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Aragon in Spain..
Not France