Xavi Vierge and his Honda HRC team have been working hard this offseason in order to pick up where the Japanese team left off at the end of 2024. With growing frequency, the Honda factory team was placing within the top 10, momentum in a positive direction Vierge and his team look to continue heading into the 2025 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship.

Better weather led to a Day 1 in which all riders rode more laps and posted faster times. For Vierge, that was a 1’39.916s best lap on 81 laps. Day 2’s mixed track conditions, which later turned into an outright dounpour of rain, limited speeds and total laps, but Vierge still managed to finish 2^nd fastest; with a 1’53.666s best lap on 27 laps.

“Day 1 was a bit windy, but we were able to use the entire day.” Said Vierge “It has been very good, since the beginning the feeling has been good, we’ve been testing some things on the bike, seeing what direction we want to take the bike in, but overall it was a good day”

Speaking on Day 2 specifically, the wet second day at Jerez provided a type of stress testing for the rider, the bike, and most notably, their CBR 1000 RR-R’s new Ohlins suspension which he specified had not yet been tested on the bike in such conditions.

“Today was raining unfortunately for us, but at the same time, this was a good thing because we’ve swapped for Ohlins suspension, and I had never tried that suspension in wet conditions.” said Vierge “It has been good to make a few laps, the feeling has been quite positive, so I can say it’s been a productive two days of testing. “

Among other notable changes for Honda HRC besides the new suspension, Vierge is joined by Tetsuya Sasaki as his new crew chief who joined the team this offseason. Prior to this, Sasaki has worked as an R&D engineer with Suzuki, and a technical director for IDEMITSU Honda’s Moto2™ team from 2012-2015.

“We had only worked together for four days before Jerez, and most of that time was dedicated to preparing for these back-to-back tests, Jerez and Portimao. Our first impression was very good; he brings lots of experience so I think we can make good progress together.” said Vierge

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