Vierge impressed by ‘power’ of WorldSBK, first time riding ‘a big bike’

Xavi Vierge is set to make his WorldSBK debut in just over two months time at Aragon which will be his first official race weekend on 1000cc machinery. 

After competing in Moto2 for over nine years - both in the world championship and prior to that in the CEV European Moto2 series - Vierge has so far had just two full days of WorldSBK action. 

During last month’s Jerez test Vierge was joined by new team-mate at Team HRC Iker Lecuona, while Kawasaki and BMW were both led by star riders Jonathan Rea and Scott Redding. 

Despite having years of racing experience at the top level, Vierge’s debut with the Honda team was his first time experiencing a full factory Superbike.

Before that Vierge had completed just a handful of laps on his personal Honda, which is somewhat surprising given many Moto2 riders and even 2021 Moto3 world champion Pedro Acosta are known to have ridden 1000cc bikes as part of their training during the 2021 season. 

"I was really impressed with the way the team worked," said Vierge following his first outing with the Japanese manufacturer. "There are many people inside the team, working at the track and also in the background in Japan. 

"For me it was nice being in a team like that and the first feeling was really good. I never jumped on a big bike until Jerez; I did before just some laps with my own Honda, but not on the WorldSBK. 

"I was really impressed with the power of the bike. We tried many, many things and our target for the first test was to do as many laps as I could, but also to take all the information from it that I could."

Since making his full factory WorldSBK debut Vierge has been back on-track with a standard CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP at Cartagena as preparations for the 2022 season continue.