Jake Dixon makes bold claim about Honda WorldSBK potential after first top 10
Honda’s WorldSBK bike is capable of top-six finishes, Jake Dixon thinks, after he took the team’s first top-10 of the season at Cremona.
Honda’s 2026 WorldSBK season has been dire, but Jake Dixon thinks there is top-six potential in the CBR1000RR-R.
Dixon finished ninth in Race 1 at the Italian WorldSBK, the first top-10 Honda has had all season.
But the result could’ve been much better, he thinks, had he had a better qualifying position than the 18th he ended up with after a crash on his first timed lap of Superpole.
“Unfortunately I made a mistake in qualifying, so starting far back,” Jake Dixon said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 1.
“So, I want to apologise to the team first and foremost because this weekend they’ve given me a great package to be fighting around sixth, seventh position and I just made a mistake.
“So, gave myself a lot of work in Race 1, but did the best job that I could do.
“I had a little bit more pace, but I just couldn’t get past the critical stage of the race where I needed to to keep going forward. Just got stuck behind Bassani and Locatelli.
“Just it was frustrating because I had more pace, but in that one area that I needed to be strong I wasn’t strong. I tried everything, but then in the end I had to start to defend from Bautista behind.
“It was a fun race to come from where we came from, and I enjoyed it and hopefully we can improve for tomorrow’s race.”
Asked about Honda’s recent progress, Dixon having also been in top-10 contention at Magny-Cours, he explained that his fitness is playing a key role in the improved performance and results.
“I’m getting fit, I think is the main thing,” he said.
“They haven’t had me fit and I haven’t raced a lot this year. I think, naturally, what you saw at the beginning of the year with test riders jumping on and replacement riders, they were never able to give the full potential of the bike.
“It’s true, we have done some good work, and we are figuring things out as we go this year.
“Step-by-step we are making good progress, but we need to be faster, we need to be more aggressive with the progress that we are making.
“Right now I think the bike’s good for seventh, eighth, but we need much more.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
