Nagashima joins HRC for Misano WorldSBK test

Honda WorldSBK was in action this week for a two-day test at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli with Tetsuta Nagashima in the hot seat.

Iker Lecuona was on track for both Tuesday and Wednesday’s session with the Japanese test rider joining the action in place of Xavi Vierge. The Spaniard, having recently undergone surgery on his right hand, was, however, present in the garage keeping track of developments.

With preparations geared towards the British round of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park in Mid-July, Lecuona and Nagashima also had the Suzuka 8-hour in their sights for early August. At which the pair will be joined by BSB Honda rider Takumi Takahashi.

“After spending one day at Donington last week, which was very useful as I had the chance to experience this beautiful and fun, albeit very challenging track, we came here to Misano for two more days of testing, and I’m very pleased with how it’s gone,” Lecuona explained from Italy. “We worked our way through our test plan, and everything went smoothly, without any issues. The team did a very good job, Xavi was also here, with “Tetsu” Nagashima on the other side of the garage as well as quite a few Japanese engineers who came from the factory to see for themselves.

“Having Tetsu here was important because he is an official HRC test rider in Japan and was able to personally take part in the testing and share the track with me and other WorldSBK riders. It has been challenging in such hot and humid conditions, but we can be satisfied because I think we are continuing to improve.

“We completed two long runs and the feeling with the bike in the hot weather was pretty good, our race pace better compared to the recent round we had here. In general, I think