WorldSBK Most: Lecuona ‘in some pain but no fractures’

Honda’s Iker Lecuona had a challenging debut in Most after highsiding his Fireblade at the start of Friday’s WorldSBK FP2.

The former MotoGP rider began his Czech education of the 4.2km Autodrom Most from eighth after the morning’s 45 minute session. Setting a 1’32.708 best lap to sit between KRT’s Alex Lowes and BMW’s Scott Redding.

Despite the promising start, the team made multiple changes to the Spaniard’s set up during the lunch break with the hope of allowing the rookie to feel more comfortable as he pushed towards the front group. The outcome, however, was less than favourable as Lecuona suffered a highside at turn seven on his second flying lap of the afternoon, completing the day 11th in the times but with no broken bones.

“I have to say I’ve had quite a challenging start to the weekend here in Most,” Lecuona admitted on Friday evening. “Finishing 0.8 of a second from the front in this morning’s session wasn’t so bad, considering I’d never even seen the track on TV, but the feeling was not there.

“I didn’t feel comfortable on the bike. It was moving a lot, which made it difficult for me to manage the situation and hold the best lines.

“It was hard to replicate the same laps and be consistent so we made a lot of setup changes ahead of FP2 and to be honest I felt good on the first lap - setting a decent time early on despite traffic on track.

“Unfortunately, on only my second lap out, I lost the rear through the change of direction at turn seven and suffered a massive high side, hitting the ground very hard. Checks at the medical centre have ruled out any fractures thankfully, but I have some pain in my right leg and my back. So now we’ll try and recover as well as we can for tomorrow.”