Rumor had already dubbed this new Spanish pair in the official Honda box in the WSBK category, but the official seal was missing. That's it: Iker Lecuona and Xavi Virginie will therefore indeed be the new spearheads of the CBR triple R project in the category reserved for sports cars derived from the series. The two Spaniards only have youth as a convincing argument and that is also their weakness...
They have barely more than 20 years old and they know nothing about WSBK. They were trained on prototypes which are the only motorcycles they have ridden, but Honda chose them to relaunch its CBR triple R project hitherto led by Baptist et haslam. The first was already leaving with a new contract Ducati in the pocket. The second hoped to keep his place. This will not be the case.
The official statement is as follows: “ Honda is pleased to announce that it has reached an agreement with Spanish riders Iker Lecuona and
Honda only thanks Haslam
Lecuona, 21, from Valencia, made his Moto2 World Championship debut in 2016 and is currently finishing his second year in MotoGP, while Xavi Virgo, 24, was born in Barcelona and is finishing his sixth season in MotoGP. Moto 2 World Championship.
After two years of intense and valuable collaboration, Honda thanks Leon Haslam for his important contribution to the Superbike project and wishes him the best in his future projects. During the time we worked together, we had the opportunity to appreciate Leon as a driver and as a person. We would like to thank you for your work, your dedication and your total commitment to our project and to the team. It was a pleasure working with him and we wish him the best for the future ", explain Leon Camier, team manager World SBK de Honda.
lecuona has been in the Grand Prix paddock since 2016. He initially rode in the Moto2 category for four years. Since 2020 he has been under contract with the MotoGP team Tech 3 KTM. His statistics are hardly impressive: in 82 Grands Prix so far, he has only been on the podium twice: second and third in the Moto2 World Championship. He has never finished a world championship better than twelfth place, 2018 and 2019 in Moto2. This year, the 21-year-old proved his talent for big bikes: he started three times in the top 10 on the KTM RC16 and shone sixth in the wet at the Red Bull Ring and seventh on the dry at Silverstone.
Virgin has been competing in the Moto2 world championship since 2015, achieving four podiums but no victories. His best result of the current season was third at his home track in Barcelona, and in the general classification, the driver of 24 years is 10th. It is also his best result in the championship so far.
