Having not stood on a WorldSBK podium since Assen 2022, Iker Lecuona fina🃏lly returned to the rostrum in Race 1 at this weekend’s Estoril World Superbike round.

It was a chaotic star♓t to the r🐠ace for Lecuona, he explained. He nearly crashed, and then lost positions to avoid it.

“The start was good, and I could overtake some riders in the first corner, but at Turn 4 I went just behind Xavi [Vierge] and tried to overt📖ake [Michael Ruben] Rinaldi,” the Honda rider told WorldSBK.com.

“Rinaldi crossed the line and my front tyre hit him on the back. I almost crashed, so I closed the throttle to not crash and about six ride🐠rs overtook me.”

As the race ♕progressed, so did Lecuona, picking up positions to eventually land on the podium.

“I started to overtake, and I couldn’t think so much, just to overtake at Turn 3, Turn 6. I overto𝕴ok many riders, Turn 7 braking — I felt really strong,” Lecuona said.

“I had a lot of performance today. I didn꧅’t expect a podium because we didn’t have enough time. It was a question mark over tyre life🦩.

“I said I’d try to saveꦿ the tyre in some places and keep the pace. I caught Alex [Lowes], overto🍒ok him and I was P4.

“I wanted to catch [Nicolo] Bulega and [And𝄹rea] Locatelli, but Locatelli made a mistake.

“I couldn’t relax because Alex was 0.5 sec൩onds behind me. I went a b🧸it faster than Bulega, and I said to keep the pace.

“In the last two laps, I thought the podium was possible 🌱after two years. I was very happy during the whole lap, but coming into pit lane, I started to cry.

“It’s been a hard year for me with many i🍨njuries. S༺ometimes, I felt like I wasn’t good enough to be here. It was a really good thing for me.”

Lecuona said that he had made improvements mentally over the summer which have contri♏buted to improved performances in recent races.

“I think in the summer, I need to say I started to work with a psychologist b🍬ecause I needed to be more focuജsed and relaxed in some areas," he said.

“I wor🥀k physically more than ever; eat the food I need tꦑo eat. I listen to my manager and my team, to my girlfriend and my friends.

“I chan༺ged a lot and they’re [Honda] working really hard in Japan. From the summer, the bike improved a lot🐲. We were getting closer and closer and now we’ve done it.”