The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has completed WorldSBK round six at the Most Circuit with riders Hayden Gillim and Tati Mercado, who have stood in for full-time entries Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin this weekend. 

The day began with a brief warm-up session in which Mercado and Gillim made some final modifications and checks ahead of the ten-lap Superpole race. Out at 11am CET for the short sprint, the riders again lined up on row eight of the starting grid. Mercado got away well and demonstrated consistent pace over the course of the ten-lap race, concluding in nineteenth place. Gillim did his best to harness yesterday’s race experience as he headed into only his second ever SBK race. The American worked hard to keep with his team-mate, his rhythm increasing as the race went on. Hayden completed the ten-lap sprint in twentieth position. 

The weekend’s final race ran according to schedule at 2pm. Through the opening laps, Mercado was lying nineteenth, followed by Gillim, twentieth. The riders were able to lap with similar pace to each other although had difficulty finding the kind of pace that would allow them to really fight with the group ahead. The duo ultimately placed seventeenth and eighteenth, having both succeeded in reducing the gap to the front with respect to Race 1. 

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will not prepare for WorldSBK round seven, taking place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal on 9-11 August. It is hoped that Mackenzie and Norrodin will be fit to compete at that round. 

Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado 

“Race 2 was a little quicker than race 1, so that was positive. We made some modifications for the second long-race, particularly to the electronics, to find a little more traction and have a more stable bike. But it was still a difficult race. I tried to follow the group, but that wasn’t possible sadly. So I focused on maintaining my pace because it was important to run a consistent race so that the team have more useful data. Not an easy weekend, but the positives are that we finished every race and improved with each session. I think we also tried a few things that might serve the team moving forward. I hope I’ve been helpful anyway, and I want to thank Midori Moriwaki and the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team once again for giving me the opportunity to race in WorldSBK. I also wish Adam a speedy recovery.” 

Hayden Gillim 

“Today was definitely the most comfortable I’ve felt with the bike. I got going pretty good in the Superpole race and was able to run a clean race without many mistakes. That meant I was feeling pretty good heading into race two. I got a good start, but I am just lacking the experience to be able to throw down fast laps early on. The overall pace for me was consistent and around 10 seconds faster than race one. I am very happy about that. I had an incredible weekend with the team and the fans. Thank you to everybody for making my debut in World Superbike so special.”