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.”
