The 2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship is three rounds in, but for one rider, there’ll be some extra MotoGP™ World Championship action at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) will replace Marc Marquez in the factory Repsol Honda Team at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, with the Valencian rider being called up to stand-in for the eight-time World Champion.

Marquez suffered an injury in the season-opening Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao when he collided with Miguel Oliveira at Turn 3 on the second lap. Whilst this resulted in a penalty for Marc, the Spaniard also suffered a fracture to the first metacarpal in his right hand and has been out of action since. Lecuona on the other hand has been in the opening three rounds of WorldSBK and with a best result so far of sixth at Phillip Island during round one. Tough weekends at Mandalika and Assen followed, but the 23-year-old is relishing an opportunity to return to the MotoGP™ paddock this weekend, even with big boots to fill.

Lecuona started his career in the MotoGP™ paddock before moving over to WorldSBK for the 2022 season. A top six finisher in the premier class back in 2021 aboard KTM machinery as well as five other top ten finishes, the #7 also had two Moto2™ podiums to his name. At Jerez, he’s never scored points in the premier class but has two top ten results from his Moto2™ appearances in 2018 and 2019.

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Source: WorldSBK.com