Leon Camier, Team HRC Team Manager, discussed the team’s prospects for the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship season. The team recently took part in a one-day test at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, although they did not race due to rain. This test was supposed to be the second opportunity for the team to race with the new CBR1000RR-R machine with riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.
Camier shared his thoughts on the new bike, which Honda announced at the EICMA show in November. The bike was first tested in Jerez two weeks ago by Lecuona and Vierge. Camier expressed hope that the new bike is a step in the right direction and competitive enough, acknowledging that it is a new package that needs time to be developed and understood:
– The new bike is a step in the direction we want. I hope it will be enough to be competitive, we will see. Obviously, it’s a new package, so it needs time to develop, so we can really understand the bike we have. It’s not the final version before the first round. There will be some small improvements during the Christmas period and then the bike we will start with next year will be slightly different again. Hopefully the technicians will have enough information to be able to go back and present some more parts for next year.
Regarding the changes in Team HRC for 2024, Camier mentioned that there were several changes, including his departure and the arrival of Jose Escamez as his replacement. Tom Jojic joined the team as Lecuona’s team manager. These changes aim to improve the technical part of the team, bringing people with more experience and different backgrounds. The goal is to strengthen the team in all areas, not just the bike: ‘All of this is something we have to analyze and discuss with the Japanese engineers exactly the direction they want to take. From the team’s side, we know what things we would like to do, but this is something we have to resolve with Japan and what we can do in the time frame we have and confirm the package we will start with next year’.
He then reflected on his time as Team Director and highlighted podium finishes as a significant achievement, expressing satisfaction in seeing the project progress despite some ups and downs
– Basically, we made some changes at the end of this year as one of my last works as Team Director. We tried to improve the technical part of the team, bringing people with more experience and a different background. We added some staff to try to help behind the scenes, providing technical support to the team leaders. The goal is to try to improve in all areas; not just on the bike, we also need to try to improve the team in the technical part. It’s something I’ve been working on in the last few months. I think the team will be stronger next year. I think, overall, the team will be better. I hope the bike can take a good step forward and that we can achieve some results.
