Iker Lecuona: “We don’t understand what happened” - are Honda in big trouble?

Lecuona once again finished as the top Honda rider, however, last season’s rookie of the year was more than 1.2s down on WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista, who topped the two day test like in Portimao. 

The Spaniard was also a second down on Bautista when it came to the end of FP2 when race runs were the focus, a session where Bautista was also slower than in FP1. 

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Lost for words as to why Honda are struggling, Lecuona said: "Very difficult test. We finished in P8 but we are not sure if this position is true. We struggled a lot and we don’t understand very well what happened. 

"I feel good on the bike, I feel like we have a good balance, but the reality is that we are missing some tenths. 

"We missed some lap time in the beginning with the first tyre and we don’t know why. We have two days before the first race; two days that we need to put the focus towards the electronics, on the data to understand what happened with the bike, what happened with the electronics and what happened in general."

When trying to pinpoint what area of the bike the lack of performance was coming from, Lecuona was again left unsure.

Lecuona added: "I don’t know if it’s the setup, if it’s the electronics or maybe I did something wrong on-track. What is clear is that we are missing some tenths and we need to know why."

There were still positives for Lecuona as pace on used tyres compared to his rookie season has been a big strength so far in pre-season testing, which again continued in Phillip Island. 

"On used tyres we took a big step compared to last year because I now feel good on them and can ride consistently - this is important as we’ve resolved something that was critical for me and my riding style and that was causing me to struggle in the second part of the races," said Lecuona. 

"So we’ve made a step there, and that has us feeling that there is still more we can do with the bike setup, but our expectations were much higher going into this test to be honest, particularly here at a track I adore."