WorldSBK Assen: ‘Unexpected podium’ for Lecuona as Honda gamble pays off

Absolute Superbike rookies Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge being drafted into the full HRC Honda WorldSBK team for the 2022 season would have seen Assen as something of a gamble in any season whatsoever.

But after two tough years on the ‘new’ Fireblade RR-R, and few podiums even for an experienced rider like Alvaro Bautista, at first sight the double rookie strategy seemed like a last chance saloon long shot when you were out of other options.

Last year Honda was far from out of options, with strong potential signings everywhere for their well-resourced full factory effort. All of them had more experience of production-derived racing than two MotoGP products like Lecuona and Vierge.

Assen was hardly a potential podium fest for Vierge, who is still carrying injuries, but for Lecuona, even a huge crash early in the weekend could not prevent him from having a strong top five weekend that culminated in his first WorldSBK podium finish after only six races.

Had Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu not fallen in race two, Lecuona and all know that he would have finished inside the top five, but nothing can hide the fact that in the earliest days of their combination, Lecuona plus Honda equals 99% competitiveness.

It did not look that way on Friday, as Lecuona explained himself from his surprise appearance in the Assen Media Centre on Sunday afternoon.

“In FP1 I finished second, in FP2 I had a massive crash,” he recounted, with a slight grimace. “There was a big pain in my leg all the weekend. At that moment I feel I have little potential not to fight for the podium, but to fight for P4, P5 maybe, because I feel very, very strong. In race one, I was P5. In Superpole also I have a very good lap time and I finished again P5. So, I