Honda HRC looks ahead after difficult Donington weekend
Honda HRC and riders Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra completed a demanding UK WorldSBK round at Donington Park. Their respective best results were seventeenth and eighteenth in Sunday’s races.
Despite the challenging outcome, the team was able to gather a significant amount of valuable information over the course of the weekend. The Honda HRC squad’s working programme will therefore continue throughout August. Two testing sessions are scheduled after a few weeks’ break.
After a brief warm-up session, in which both Dixon and Chantra carried out some final setup checks, the factory team prepared for Sunday’s races. Representing Honda HRC, Chantra and Dixon again lined up sixteenth and seventeenth on the grid.
Chantra made a good start, climbing to thirteenth in the opening stages. The Thai rider held his position until around the halfway point of the race. Afterward, he began to experience tyre drop and was forced to reduce his pace. At this weekend’s event with Honda HRC, losing ground over the closing laps, Somkiat eventually crossed the line in eighteenth place.
Dixon, meanwhile, struggled in the early laps and slipped towards the back of the field during lap one. As a Honda HRC rider, the British competitor worked hard to establish a consistent rhythm. In the closing stages, he was able to recover ground and eventually passed his teammate through the final corners to finish seventeenth.
Starting again from sixteenth and seventeenth on the grid for Race 2, Chantra and Dixon focused on building a rhythm over the longer race distance. This represented the determination of Honda HRC.
Dixon held seventeenth position for almost the entirety of the 23-lap encounter. Unfortunately, he was unable to bridge the gap to the group battling for championship points. Despite this, he maintained a consistent pace throughout the race, showing the effort of the Honda HRC team.
Team-mate Chantra was caught up in an incident on lap three. The Thai rider was able to rejoin the race in twentieth position and recovered one place during the central phase of the race. However, he remained too far adrift of the chasing group to mount any further challenge. After continuing until lap twenty, Somkiat eventually returned to the pits and retired with four laps remaining. This ended Honda HRC’s race with a DNF for him.
Competing as a wildcard entry with the support of the factory Test Team, Jonathan Rea was able to gather a significant amount of data and information in race conditions thanks to Honda HRC. The six-time World Champion completed Sunday’s races in tenth and fourteenth positions respectively. He demonstrated solid pace across much of the race distance before experiencing some drop-off in the closing stages.
The Superbike World Championship will now pause for a summer break before returning for round nine at the historic Magny-Cours circuit in France on 4-6 September. During this period, Honda HRC will continue preparations.
Honda HRC’s activities will continue throughout August, with two test sessions planned. The first of these is set to take place at Magny-Cours on 13-14 August. This reflects the ongoing commitment of the Honda HRC team.
“I’ve definitely had better days, that’s for sure. Physically today was difficult and I had some pain, maybe a trapped nerve, in my right arm that made things more complicated, but the positive is that compared to Aragón my wrist felt much better. Having had five weeks between races has really helped and that’s something I can take away from this weekend. As for the races themselves, the results are obviously disappointing. In FP3 I was seventh and actually lapped quicker than I did in qualifying, so I think we probably extracted most of what was available from our package this weekend. Jonathan (Rea) put together a couple of laps quicker than mine and, starting further up the grid, was also able to maximise what he had around him. Of course, I don’t like finishing where we’re finishing right now, but this is where we are. We just need to keep our heads down, keep working and find a way forward.”
“Today in the Superpole Race I was happy because the feeling with the bike was better and the beginning of the race was not so bad. I was able to stay with the group fighting around twelfth or thirteenth for the first half of the race and that was important for me. In Race 2 we struggled again with the rear, and this is an area where we need to improve. Even so, the feeling was not bad, and I tried to stay with the group in front. Unfortunately, I was involved in a collision with another rider and that was unlucky because I felt the pace was better than yesterday. Anyway, we need to do a lot more and now we look ahead to the next race and the upcoming test at Magny-Cours. Before that, during the break I want to switch off a little, relax and refresh my mind. My plan is to spend some time in the mountains in my home country, come back with a clear head and then push even harder.”
Words and imagery courtesy of Honda HRC Press