Haslam takes Honda’s best finish of the season with P4

Leon Haslam had his best WorldSBK weekend of the season at Donington thanks to a best result of P4 in Sunday’s Superpole race - also Honda’s best finish of the year.

Three top ten finishes meant It was the first weekend where Haslam outscored team-mate Alvaro Bautista in all three races since both men formed the two rider line-up in 2020. 

It was a slightly more difficult race two for Haslam though as he finished ninth. The former BSB champion said a small issue limited his potential, but that ‘we’ve taken some steps’ forward overall. 

"It felt good to get fourth today. I felt we were in the mix for the podium in both yesterday’s race 1 and the Superpole race, which was definitely a positive," added Haslam. 

"We then had some issues in today’s second race, but overall we can say that we’ve taken some steps over the weekend and are clear as to where we need to work."

The pace demonstrated by Haslam in the 10 lap sprint race showed just how capable this year’s Honda Fireblade is - set similar lap times to race winner Jonathan Rea throughout.  

Haslam concluded by saying: "My pace was quite strong in the sprint race, which we ran on intermediate tyres, and my set-up wasn’t bad in the last race either, it was just a pity that we had an issue that ultimately saw me go backwards rather than forwards. 

"All in all, a better weekend for us, and we hope to build on this next time out at Assen."