Lecuona: ‘I made one of my best saves ever’, bounces back after ‘braking’ issues

While the second-year WorldSBK rider managed to finish eighth - one place higher than his day-two position - Lecuona was able to reduce the deficit from Toprak Razgatlioglu down to one second, while also improving his lap time by over half a second. 

Expected to make big strides forward in 2023 and become a more consistent threat to the likes of Yamaha, Ducati and Kawasaki, Honda have been one of the most active manufacturers when it comes to supplying its riders with new parts.

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Upgrades that have been brought in to focus on improving the overall set-up of the bike, Lecuona and Honda remained a sizable margin down on the three main contenders from last season, but also Michael Ruben Rinaldi. 

Following the braking issues which cost him the majority of day-one, Lecuona also had to produce a save on day-two which the former MotoGP rider described as ‘one of my best ever’. 

"I’m much happier today than I was yesterday, when we were struggling with the braking basically all day," said Lecuona. 

"So today we focused on this area and made a big improvement that allowed me to enjoy riding the bike again. That was the first positive, but we were actually able to take steps with regard to various aspects of the bike’s setup, except one, in that we still have more to do in terms of turning. 

"Having said that, I’m happy with the work we were able to carry out over what have been two very good days of testing, and I’m also pleased with the pace I was able to maintain on used tyres. 

"I also tried a new soft spec today but almost crashed at turn 8. I think I made one of my best ever saves, touching with my elbow and knee but keeping it upright.

"Although I didn’t profit from the qualifying tyre, I was consistent and fast with the “0” spec, with which I worked almost all day, and we’re happy with that." 

Vierge has a ‘direction’ for next WorldSBK test

Half a second down on team-mate Lecuona, Xavi Vierge was only 13th fastest on the final day of the Jerez test.

However, the Spaniard was still able to find a ‘direction’ when it came to knowing what items worked ahead of the upcoming Portimao test.

Vierge said: "It’s been very positive to finally be back on track, especially because we only saw rain during our last tests here in December. It’s true that it has been very cold, but from midday on we were able to enjoy solid track time. 

"We had a lot of work to do and have tried many things, basically going through all the items that we didn’t have a chance to check properly during the final rounds and testing sessions of 2022. 

"We’ve made some steps forward and now have a direction for our next test in Portimao. We’re doing all we can to achieve our targets as quickly as possible and having so many Japanese engineers here has been extra motivation for us to do our very best."