WorldSBK Aragon: Lecuona leads Honda to strong season start

MotoGP exile Iker Lecuona led HRC to a strong season start at WorldSBK Aragon, picking up fifth place in the championship standings in his debut race weekend.

The rookie Spaniard took eighth and tenth in Sunday’s races after encountering front-grip problems in the main event but it was enough to secure fifth in the points table.

“Leaving Aragon in fifth place in the championship, considering this is my first round with the team and the bike and after crashing in testing, is not bad at all,” said Lecuona.

“Having said that, it’s frustrating that I missed out on the chance to do better than eighth in the sprint race after making a small mistake when I shifted into third gear in a second-gear corner, losing some ground that I wasn’t able to recover. Then in race two I struggled a lot, firstly when I found myself behind Xavi; it took me some time to pass him because I really wanted to do it in the safest possible way.

“I eventually moved up to eighth but then I started to lose the front in the final stages of the race. I had to be careful not to crash and so couldn’t defend my position in the end. A bit of a tough race then, but it’s all experience that we will harness in order to do better in the future. Thanks to the team because they always work very hard and really help me.”