Jojic is the former crew chief to Kenny Roberts Jr, Hiroshi Aoyama and Bradley Smith, but will switch to WorldSBK next year.

Xavi Vierge will continue to work with Gorka Segura, but for Lecuona it’s the first change of crew chief since he joined the Superbike class in 2022.

Along with his previous crew chief roles, Jojic has been apart of two constructors’ championships in Moto3 with KTM, as well as the riders’ championship.

Jojic’s experience doesn’t just stop on the two-wheels side of motorsport, as he was also and electronics design engineer for the BAR Honda F1 team. 

Speaking about the team’s new acquisition, Team Principal of the factory Honda team, Leon Camier, said: “The decision was made; we felt that Tom could add a lot of experience with his background in development and engineering. 

“It’s something we felt like we needed. Basically, I know some people that worked with Tom before and he had some really, really good references and we felt he’d be a super good fit for taking the project another step further. 

“First impressions are really good and what we’re hoping for.”

Rookies when they both joined the class, Lecuona and Vierge have endured an up-and-down start to their WorldSBK careers.

Both riders have stood on the podium since 2022, however, Honda’s slow progression along with the inexperienced of both riders has led to them struggling to compete at the very front.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi was available following his departure from Aruba.it Ducati, but the Japanese manufacturer has elected to stay put until the end of 2025.

“It’s good to have everything clear on the contract side because we must focus on the job ahead,” said Lecuona. 

“I want to fight at the front and succeed, something HRC has always strived for in the racing field, but we must work hard to reach that level, so soon after the last round of the 2023 Championship we will turn our full attention to testing as we start to prepare for the new season, aiming to take a consistent step forward in terms of performance and results.”

For Lecuona, staying in WorldSBK was not always a certainty after being linked with a move to LCR Honda.

But with Johann Zarco remaining at LCR and thus not moving up to Repsol Honda to replace Marc Marquez, Lecuona’s future became a lot clearer.

On the other side of the garage, Vierge had few options and so remaining with Honda was the Spaniard’s main goal.

Vierge said: “I’m happy to have renewed my contract with Team HRC for another two years. It’s every rider’s dream to be part of a HRC factory team and my feelings have only grown since my early days with the squad. 

“It is a source of motivation to continue together, as I believe in the project, in myself, and in my team. 

“Together we can accomplish our goal, which is to try to fight for the Championship as soon as possible. And so, we will continue to work as hard as we can in order to get there.”

After being in MotoGP action at Assen last month, WorldSBK action at Donington Park and the testing for the Suzuka 8 hours, the Spaniard is going through a very busy period aboard Honda machinery.

Lecuona’s future at Team HRC appears to be up in the air at the moment, after struggling through the first half of this season.

That doesn’t mean the team doesn’t want to retain him as Leon Camier recently admitted that was the case, however, there have also been rumours linking him with LCR Honda in MotoGP.

But rumours around his future aside, Lecuona is excited to get back on-track this weekend after a tough Suzuka 8 hour test: “It’s a busy period right now, switching from one world to the other – from WorldSBK to MotoGP, the Suzuka 8 hours test and now straight on to a new track! 

“But I’m enjoying myself and am looking forward to this new challenge. I know literally nothing about Imola. 

“I’ve never been there and never watched a race there, but learning a new track is normally not that challenging for me, a track is a track! 

“It will be really important to work well on the bike, quickly find the way in terms of setup and have a clear direction to follow throughout the weekend. I’m ready and waiting to kick off a new weekend.”

Two places ahead of Lecuona in the championship, teammate Xavi Vierge will also be riding at the Italian for the first time in his career. 

“Imola follows on from a weekend that had its ups and down, but our motivation is intact and we’re ready to work hard to get the best out of the next round,” said Vierge. 

“After Donington, we took part in two days of testing at Suzuka, two busy days where conditions constantly changed, but I really enjoyed it and feel it has given me an extra boost to fight hard to reach our goals. 

“Imola is a new track for me of course, and I hope that it works for us as the Italian tracks generally do! 

“As always when heading to a new track, I try to work a lot before I arrive, watching videos and trying to learn the circuit on a simulator, which, although on four wheels, is a really good way to check out the layout. So I think I’m as ready as I can be and now let’s see what we can do!”

Despite a poor start to the 2023 WorldSBK season, Lecuona and Vierge remain in the mix to stay at the Japanese manufacturer, while other names continue to be linked with their seats.

One of those is Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who appears set to leave the Aruba.it Ducati team. 

But Camier confirmed that Honda wants to keep both riders, saying this to Corsedimoto.com: “Our goal is to continue with both riders. It will take some time, because now we are working on the Suzuka 8 Hours.”

Camier also admitted that Honda are hoping to have a brand new bike, although it might not arrive for the 2024 season.

“There could be something in the pipeline but I don’t know if it will be next year. Maybe something will happen. 

“There are several changes we would like, but the rules limit us. A new production motorcycle is very expensive to develop. 

“It takes millions to change something on the engine and chassis. If the market is down, Honda has no interest in launching a new model.”

Since returning to the series as a full factory team, Honda has consistently struggled to close the gap to the likes of Ducati, Yamaha and Kawasaki.

Unlike their MotoGP project which is spearheaded by Stefan Bradl with regards to the testing program, Honda’s Superbike test team runs solely in Japan which is something that the Team HRC boss would like to see change.

“We don’t do tests in Europe,” added Camier. “We have a tester in Japan and the parts are tested there before being delivered to us. It would be useful to have a tester in Europe.”

Lecuona was one of just two retirements from Race 1 at the Dutch WorldSBK round, before adding his name to a much larger list during Sunday’s final race.

The Spaniard crashed out of Race 1 following a tumble at turn one, before a mistake at turn four saw him go down in Race 2.

“It was a tough day in general for me, the team and Honda, with me and Xavi both crashing in Race 2 and generally struggling at this track,” said Lecuona. 

“We think we understood something about why the weekend developed as it did, so now it’s time to remain cool and focused, checking all the data and really understanding which changes to make to the setup of the bike, both for the next round and for the subsequent testing session at Misano. 

“It’s true that last year I also had to save myself from some crashes, but this year we have crashed a lot. 

“Having said that, thanks to the team, to Kuwata san, Mori san and everyone on the team for the trust they put in me. I trust them and the team and now we need to work and make the right choices.”

Lecuona and Xavi Vierge struggled to fight for the top five all three races, which was somewhat of a surprise given this year’s Honda has generally been more competitive and Lecuona secured his maiden Superbike podium at Assen last season.

For Vierge, the former Moto2 rider was unlucky to be run off the track in Race 1 when leading a group of six in eighth place.

During Sunday’s Race 2, Vierge was in contention for another top ten result before crashing at turn one.

Vierge said: “I first want to apologise to the team for my mistake in race 2. The team worked really hard between yesterday and today, making various changes to the bike. 

“It wasn’t easy to decide what to do following warm-up, as we didn’t have the right conditions to really check it, but we believed in our work and headed into the Superpole race feeling confident. 

“I was pleased with the way that race went as the bike allowed me to battle. I was able to finish top nine and that meant I gained a better grid position for race 2. 

“As that race got underway, I was feeling good and the feeling was there, allowing me to fight for the top six. Unfortunately I made a small mistake through turn 1 and lost the front, and that was the end of that. 

“Not the end we were hoping for, but after a difficult weekend we did find something that allowed us to be up there fighting for a solid result. So we need to take the positives and will now head to Barcelona, a track that can work better for us.”

On what was his first lap of FP1, Lecuona suffered a highside at turn 16 which left last season’s WorldSBK rookie of the year confused and struggling mentally.

The Team HRC rider was unable to complete a flying lap during the opening session before eventually putting his name on the timingsheets in FP2.

However, damage was already done to Lecuona’s confidence at that stage, as he languished down the order before suffering another fall, this time a turn ten. 

“I think it’s the worst start of almost all my career, honestly,” said Lecuona. “In the first lap I had this massive highside in corner 16 that I didn’t expect because I was going slow. 

“I was going slow but I just lost the rear and I could do nothing to save it. Was the same crash as last year but with the luck that I didn’t have any big injuries. 

“To finish the day we tried to build again the confidence in FP2 because even in FP2 I didn’t want to ride. I was scared in that moment because it’s just the first lap and I didn’t expect this crash. 

“It’s a very hard moment and mentally a big moment for me. But then we started to build and thanks to the team because they repaired the bike after it was pretty destroyed after the crash. 

“We worked alone but well, and then step-by-step we were improving the feeling and then we put new tyres and in the tenth corner it was almost the same crash but the rear didn’t catch the grip. I missed the rear but it was the same crash. 

“I made like a 360 and I can do nothing to save. It’s almost three crashes that are the same on this track. It’s honestly not a good feeling right now. I’m down [at the moment]. It’s hard to start a weekend like this.”

Even more confusing for Lecuona is that the Spaniard appeared to be on the racing line, therefore it was not a case of being on the dirty part of the track which had caught out several riders including Michael Ruben Rinaldi. 

“I was on the line! I was on the line both times but just the second one I missed the rear grip,” added Lecuona. 

“The worst is in FP1 in the first lap when the tyre is new. It’s one of the worst moments for me mentally.”

Lecuona, who waited five minutes before joining the on-track action in FP1, wanted to do so when the track had more grip put down by other riders, however, it didn’t stop the former MotoGP rider from having the first of his two falls.  

The Spaniard concluded his media debrief by saying: “I need time to go again at full [speed] on this track after last year. With this massive crash I missed the last round in Australia and I needed one month to recover well. For this, we waited five minutes when pit lane opened to have a cleaner track. 

“Also, two days ago I was on the bed and very sick [after catching food poisoning] and my energy was not the best one. So we tried to go with calm but even to do it like this I had this massive crash.”

Camier, who is yet to see Team HRC claim a WorldSBK victory since becoming the Team Manager in 2021, believes improvements made during pre-season should bring them closer to the top three manufacturers.

However, a gap in performance clearly remains between the ‘second group’ that Lecuona referred to it as, and last season’s top three riders – now a quartet after Michael Ruben Rinaldi has seemingly joined the fight at the front. 

A deficit of over one second separated Lecuona from Toprak Razgatlioglu at the two day Jerez test, while Alvaro Bautista held a seven tenth advantage over Lecuona in Portimao.

For that reason Camier is not jumping the gun regarding what is possible for the Japanese manufacturer, despite super concessions being at their disposal. 

“I think the super concession that we got is to give us more adjustment; I think it’ll help us overall but I don’t think it’ll be the main difference that we need that all of a sudden, we’ll be fighting for race wins,” said the ex-Superbike rider. 

“There’re so many factors that have to be perfect for you to be at that point. We are still young in this championship, so we need a little bit more time to get the package exactly correct for fighting for a title. 

“I think in the right time and right place, we can fight for podiums and our goal is to make another step this year and keep improving the bike that we have. We want to see a step.”

With that said, Honda have been making steady improvements since returning to the series as a full factory outfit in 2020.

Their consistent progression should have seen them finish ahead of BMW last season, however, an injury to Lecuona saw him miss the final six races, thus handing the advantage back to BMW riders.

Should Honda continue their upward trajectory, then fighting for podiums based on pure pace could begin to take place, whether that’s at the start of the season or by the end of it. 

Discussing which areas have been improved the most, Camier said: “There’re lots of small things we’ve improved since last year, such as having torque in the right places with the engine and a bit more on acceleration. 

“We’ve made a small step with electronics which should help us over race distance, which is something that if you have good enough hearing, you’ll understand what it is on the side of the track! 

“There’re several items, such as swingarms as we’ve discussed before and we’ll have some other upgrades on that this year. 

“Let’s see if we can bridge the gap and arrive to the lead group and also see if the parts that have come from Japan will allow us to do that earlier in the year. When we arrive to Europe, we’ll start to understand our position.”

After securing a best of fourth during the Superpole race at Misano last season, Vierge wants to join teammate Iker Lecuona in adding his name to the WorldSBK podium club.

Lecuona has the upper hand thanks to finishing third in Race 2 at Assen, but after making improvements during testing compared to where he ended his rookie season, the former Moto2 rider has bigger ambitions to go with it. 

“Of course, challenging for podiums is one of the main objectives this year,” stated Vierge. “After one year of experience for us, we’re a big step ahead compared to 2022 and we’ll start the weekends with a great base and a lot of information from last year. 

“We’ve worked a lot in the winter and in pre-season on our pace in the race, and this makes the difference in the last part of the race. 

“We’re doing a good job and we hope to achieve the podiums as soon as possible. The season starts in a lot better place in Australia in their summer and then Indonesia. 

“These are two circuits that I really like and that our bike works quite well, so we’ll try to take advantage to fight well. 

“About being best Honda, this is my target and Iker and I are pushing ourselves to the limit. We’re improving together, which helps improve the team. I hope we don’t have bad injuries like last year, and I hope that we can fight until the end together.”

As already mentioned, Vierge’s best result of fourth at Misano was impressive, although it came after a big tyre gamble saw him go with the more favoured qualifying option during the ten-lap Superpole Race, which is why extensive work on race tyres has been put in so far this pre-season.

Vierge added: “We found a base set-up and we improved it a lot on the race simulation. With respect to our race pace from last year, we improved on the hard tyres but then in both the tests, with the softer tyres, I struggled a little bit more. 

“Our goal was to improve our race pace on the race tyres, and I think we achieved it. 

“If we compare ourselves from before, I think we made a big step forward and I’m looking forward to arriving to Australia to take profit of the next two days of testing.”

Following a difficult Jerez test where Lecuona ‘struggled a lot’, the second-year WorldSBK rider found more performance at the recent two-day outing at Portimao.

But while it was a much improved showing, Lecuona and Honda remained over seven tenths down on the leading duo of Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea.

Gaps between Bautista, Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who has so far made the titanic trio from 2022 into a quartet during pre-season testing, and the rest of the field remains worrisome as they locked out the top four positions on three of the four days of testing so far in 2023.

Speaking at the Team HRC launch earlier this week, Lecuona was keen to point out that race simulations have improved, as has his experience which could play a key role in helping him drag Honda closer to its competition. 

Lecuona added: “At the end, for now, we have already done two tests. In the first one I struggled a lot but in the second one, I felt quite good with the bike and in a race simulation. I felt like we’ve found a good step in the second half of the race. 

“This is the target; last year, we struggled a lot in the second half of the race, so I’ll try to improve it. It helps us a lot that we don’t need to learn the track. 

“We have a base set up for the bike and on Friday, we don’t need to lose time to learn the track. This is a very positive point and a strong point for us. 

“I don’t want to put a big goal this year; for sure, I want to win and fight for the podium and both of us have the potential, but we need a little bit more time. 

“Maybe we can get a bit closer to the podium, but we’ll see. I’m very excited to start and I think we can do a very good second year in WorldSBK.”

Start of 2023 WorldSBK season will reveal ‘our real level’

While testing saw Lecuona improve his race simulations quite considerably, the former MotoGP rider is not getting ahead of himself as testing is not always an accurate assessment of how the season will play out. 

“Honestly, we’ve improved our level and we’re quite happy about the second part of the race in the race simulations. We need to wait until the first races to know our real level,” said the Spaniard. 

“I think we can fight for the second group, but not with the first one. Alvaro with the new bike has a lot of potential and this package is unbelievable. Jonny and Toprak, we know their level too. 

“Maybe at the end of the year, we can fight but we need more time to understand the new parts of the bike and the new pieces.”

For large parts of the 2022 WorldSBK campaign, Honda were the fourth best manufacturer despite mixing it with the likes of Ducati, Yamaha and Kawasaki riders at times.

Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge both impressed as rookies, finishing ninth and tenth in the championship – Lecuona likely would have secured eighth ahead of Scott Redding has he not missed the last six races due to injury – however, the gap to the top three riders was still a problem for Honda.

One advantage Honda and main rivals BMW had over its competition in 2022 were the new super concessions system which allowed both manufacturers to make chassis changes when accumulating points through their results.

But Camier was quick to point out that it will take time for super concessions to bring them on a par with the top three manufacturers.

“The super concession thing is a slow burner,” Camier told WorldSBK.com. “It’s not that you get one thing and, all of a sudden, you’re going to be competitive straight away. There are so many moving parts to a team. 

“Teams have been in this paddock for 15-20 years and it takes time for you, as a team to get there. We’re in our third year as a team. There are many little parts we need to keep improving in the team and on the bike as well. 

“It’s a new bike. With the first year of Covid, nothing was really done. Last year and this year there’s been good progress. The hard part is the last part and that’s where we are now. 

“For us, as HRC, we have to keep working on our own project and focus on our own issues and things we know we can improve. That’s the goal.”

In both 2020 and 2021 Honda were consistently struggling to challenge for podiums or even top five finishes, but with improvements made to the CBR1000RR-R and the introduction of Lecuona and Vierge, Team HRC were much closer to the leading riders in 2022. 

Speaking about last season’s performance, Camier added: “It’s definitely been a lot of progress. With two rookies, we were confident they could come in and perform well but also the base of our package became a lot more stable this year, I would say. 

“There were quite a few changes, as we know, from suspension and brakes and these things which were quite a few unknowns. 

“Our idea was to do it now and try to progress and to develop everything for future profits. In general, I think the year’s gone very well. We were really fast many times with both riders. Many top sixes and a podium; it was a little bit gifted, but we had to be there to fight for it anyway. 

“In general, I think it’s been a good year and we’re quite confident the future will keep progressing. It’ll take time for sure. It’s not something we turn around in one day. 

“Japan are working hard but they’re not super-fast to make changes always and, when they do, they want to make sure it’s the right way.”