Former MotoGP rider Iker Lecuona has given his latest specification Honda CBR1000RR-R a bluntly negative appraisal ahead of the 2024 WorldSBK Championship after Team HRC proved comfortably off the pace of its rivals in pre-season testing.
The Spanish rider - who formerly raced with Tech 3 KTM in MotoGP - is heading into a third season of WorldSBK competition with the factory HRC Honda team in 2024.
He will do so on the latest iteration of the Honda CBR1000RR-R SP package, which has undergone its second major mid-cycle update since being first introduced ahead of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship season.
With the first update coming ahead of his rookie season in 2022 - during which Lecuona achieved a best result of third place at Assen, a result he hasn’t bettered since - Lecuona was disappointed to find himself and team-mate Xavi Vierge muddling outside the top ten on the timesheets during the most recent WorldSBK tests at Jerez and Portomao.
Though his final day was interrupted by a crash early on, Lecuona - who scored a top five finish in Portimao last year - was frustrated to find himself only 17th on the timesheets.
"I've definitely completed a lot of laps over the two days here, and we've worked very hard,” he commented.
“Unfortunately, despite the great efforts of everyone on the team, we cannot be satisfied with our result or performance.
“We were honestly expecting more, especially considering this is a track where I had a strong race last year. We still need to find a way to establish a good base setup to exploit the potential of the new bike.
“We have another two days to test at Phillip Island, although there it will be more about preparing for the first races. We will see. I’ll go to Australia with the best possible attitude though.”
Honda returned to WorldSBK in a full factory capacity in 2020 but has struggled to mount a challenge to rivals Ducati, Kawasaki and Yamaha. Despite hiring big hitters like Alvaro Bautista - who’d go on to dominate the 2022 and 2023 WorldSBK seasons upon rejoining Ducati - Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, Honda has achieved only four podiums in four seasons.
