Honda Confirms WorldSBK Wildcard for Tetsuta Nagashima at Jerez

Honda has announced Tetsuta Nagashima will make his first WorldSBK appearance of 2024 at this weekend’s season-finale.

Nagashima competed in both WorldSBK and MotoGP last season but has not appeared in either series thus far in 2024. Nagashima’s return to WorldSBK will coincide with Honda making its biggest steps forward for a long time.

Nagashima, who tests regularly for the WorldSBK project, said this about his imminent wildcard appearance: “I’m really looking forward to competing in the final round of the WorldSBK Championship at Jerez.

“I’ve been carrying out WorldSBK testing for a while now, and in 2022, I took part in my first and only race weekend in Australia, where the results weren’t bad.

“I’m curious to see how the bike performs now and what we can achieve. I hope to gain a better understanding of the bike and identify the differences with respect to two years ago. I can’t wait to be back in action.”

Although its struggles are continuing in a big way in MotoGP, the Superbike project has steadily been improving throughout the season and Estoril was a big leap forward for Honda.

Full-time factory riders Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge achieved five top eight finishes between them, while Lecuona was a podium finisher for the first time this season in race one.

Since the middle part of the season, Honda has made big improvements and Lecuona and Vierge have reflected that by being consistent top ten finishers. Vierge and Lecuona are separated by just two points heading into the season-finale at Jerez.

The two Spaniards, currently 11th and 12th in the standings, could move up to ninth at best if either of them outscores Garrett Gerloff by 35 (Vierge) and 37 (Lecuona) points.

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