Alex Rins will miss the next two MotoGP races as he continues to recover from recent surgery on his leg, with Iker Lecuona to deputise for the Spaniard.

Rins has struggled to be race-fit since breaking his left leg in a nasty crash in June’s Italian Grand Prix sprint race at Mugello. The LCR Honda racer spent four months on the sidelines waiting for his injury to heal before returning for the Japanese Grand Prix, though he was forced to push his race return a further two weeks to the Indonesian GP.  

Having finished an impressive ninth on Sunday at Mandalika, Rins then ran into more problems after sustaining a hernia on his healing leg ahead of the Australian GP – the six-time premier class race winner subsequently undergoing surgery to correct the problem.

This forced him to miss the Thai GP, and due to an extended recovery period, he has now been forced to skip this weekend’s Malaysian GP as well as the Qatar GP a week later. He hopes to make a welcome return to competition for the season finale at Valencia, his last race with Honda before moving to Yamaha’s factory operation for next year.

Explaining the situation in a brief post across its social media channels, the LCR squad revealed that Honda World Superbike racer Lecuona would step in for Rins for the next two grand prix outings. This will bring Lecuona’s total race number in 2023 to seven, the Andorran having deputised for Marc Marquez and Joan Mir in the factory Honda team for the Spanish and Dutch encounters respectively.

He then made a further three outings with LCR in place of Rins for the British, Austrian and Catalan GPs. He is yet to score points in his 2023 appearances so far, his best result of 16^th coming in Jerez and Barcelona.  

Marc Marquez will skip this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix as he continues to recover from a fractured hand, with Honda World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona to deputise.

Marquez has been absent from MotoGP competition since last month’s Portuguese GP, where he sustained a fractured metacarpal in his right hand after colliding with Miguel Oliveira’s RNF Aprilia in the early stages of Sunday’s full-length encounter at the Algarve International Circuit.

The six-time premier class world champion and his Honda squad have now announced that his return will have to wait until at least the French GP in just over two weeks after undergoing checks on Tuesday at the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid, the Japanese manufacturer selecting ex-MotoGP racer and current WSBK rider Lecuona as his replacement at Jerez.

Marquez says he is “sorry” to have to skip his third event in a row as he continues his recovery, insisting that it would have been “risky” to try and compete in his home encounter due to his hand not having healed fully yet, though added that the injury is “progressing favourably.”

“Yesterday we did another CT scan and it has been confirmed that, despite the fact that the injury is progressing favourably, the bone has not yet finished healing and racing in Jerez was risky,” began Marquez.  

“Together with the medical team, we decided not to take any risks, to wait two more weeks and return in Le Mans.

“I am very sorry to miss the Spanish Grand Prix because it is always special, because of the atmosphere, racing at home and above all, seeing and enjoying the fans.

“I will continue with the rehabilitation and work to be back as soon as possible. Thank you for your messages of support!”

Lecuona will make his premier class return for the first time since the end of 2021 after losing his ride with the Tech 3 KTM outfit, the Andorran being cast out of the Austrian marque’s fold despite scoring a total of three top ten results in his sophomore season – a best of sixth coming in the Austrian GP.

He then moved to the WSBK series with Honda’s factory operation, Lecuona enjoying a strong debut campaign in the championship as he picked up a debut rostrum finish in the Dutch round at Assen before ending the year ninth in the rider’s standings ahead of team-mate Xavi Vierge.

He currently resides 13^th overall in this years WSBK standings having notched up a total of four top ten finishes across the nine races held so far, though he suffered a horror event at Assen last weekend after failing to pick up a point across all three races.

KTM is the subject of the final chapter of Motorsport Week’s look back at the six manufacturer’s of the 2021 MotoGP world championship season, a year in which the marque struggled to continue the head of steam it had created for itself across the preceding term.

The 2020 MotoGP season was something of a breakout year for KTM as the Austrian manufacturer finally escaped the clutches of the mid-field to become merited race winners-on three occasions no less-as well as ending up just four points adrift of second-placed Yamaha in the constructors standings.

Unfortunately it was unable to keep up the momentum it had accrued throughout the 2021 term, largely because of a change to softer compound front tyres that supplier Michelin elected to bring for the new campaign-doing away with the medium compound rubber KTM’s RC16 got on so well with last season.

Its struggles were illustrated by a disastrous Qatar double-header to start 2021, with factory KTM man Brad Binder scoring its best result of eighth in the Doha Grand Prix-Miguel Oliveira managing a best of just 13^th across both encounters.

Things improved-for Binder at least- as he scored a superb fifth in the Portuguese GP, though Oliveira failed to finish higher than 11^th before KTM introduced a timely chassis update for the Italian GP at Mugello.     

The advancement rejuvenated the two-time premier class race winner as he flew to a first rostrum of the season by grabbing second behind runaway victor Fabio Quartararo, before racing to an emphatic third series success as he defeated the likes of the Yamaha rider and Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco in Barcelona.

The Portuguese ace’s electric form continued all the way until the summer break as he added his third-successive top two result in Germany- pushing race winner Marc Marquez all the way- while a run to fifth in the Dutch TT set tongues wagging about a possible title tilt, KTM left full of confidence heading to its home events in Austria after six weeks off.

A wrist injury after high-siding from his RC16 in practice for the Styrian GP put him on the back foot for the next few races, though thankfully for KTM its sophomore rider Binder was on top form.

A strong ride to fourth saw him continue the brands attack on the top five, but the best was yet to come for the South African.

He had managed to work his way into the top six once again in the latter stages of the Austrian GP, keeping the rostrum battle well within sight as he looked to try and stage a late charge-though a rain shower would turn the race upside down.

While the bulk of the leading train would peel off to pit for wet-weather tyres, the ever bold Binder elected to stay out and brave the rain for the final four laps on slicks.

Despite losing 15 seconds on the final lap alone to the wet runners-and picking up a three second penalty for track limits-he managed to hold on and score KTM’s second win of the year, a truly outstanding performance on a day where bravery was the tonic for victory.

This was as good as it would get for KTM in 2021 though as it mystifyingly lost the handle of its machine once again across the remaining seven events-Binder failing to breach the top five again while Oliveira’s form continued to elude him as he failed to finish higher than 11^th.

This meant he ended up just 14^th in the overall riders standings at the end of the year, though Binder at least managed to save some face by taking sixth outright-a hugely impressive feat as he failed to score just once all season, KTM slumping to fifth in the constructors.  

Premier satellite team Tech 3 struggled to an even greater extent than the mothership squad, Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona struggling to crack the top ten-the duo managing only four appearances in the ten all season- resulting in the French squad propping up the teams table down in 11^th and last.

KTM is hard at work making wholesale changes to its challenger, as well as its management structure for 2022 following the replacement of long-time Team Manager Mike Leitner with ex-Pramac man Francesco Guidotti, who held the same post at the Italian outfit.

Oliveira insisted in the post-season Jerez test that the marque has to change the entire “character” of the RC16 to compete with its rivals going forward.

“We just need to wait until the bike is fully together (for 2022) then push it to the limit and see what we can do with it, at the moment this bike is still very similar to this years and the character is still the same and we need to change that to compete with our opponents.”

Tech 3 meanwhile will look to make a leap forwards with an all new riding line-up, Moto2 stars Remy Gardner-the freshly crowned intermediate class champion-and Raul Fernandez stepping into the ring as its new fighters, the two looking to reignite their rivalry that fuelled a thrilling title battle in Moto2 throughout 2021. 

Iker Lecuona says he “started to cry” ahead of his final race in MotoGP in Valencia last weekend, admitting that “it’s tough to say goodbye to GP after two years.”

Lecuona-who competed with the Tech 3 KTM for both his full campaigns in the series-was dropped from KTM’s premier class roster for 2022 in favour of its Moto2 Ajo riders, namely newly-crowned intermediate class world champion Remy Gardner and rookie sensation Raul Fernandez.

The Andorra native found out he was out of the Austrian marque’s fold in devastating style mid-way through FP4 in Austria for the Styrian Grand Prix, leaving him with little hope of remaining in MotoGP and thus necessitating a move into the World Superbike Championship with Honda’s factory operation for 2022 instead.

Lecuona conceded that it was “difficult to manage” his final MotoGP encounter at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo due to going through “a lot of different feelings”, though he remained hopeful of a potential return to the championship in “three, four or five years” should his career trajectory offer him a future opportunity.

“It was difficult to manage the race as I had a lot of different feelings, when I shut the visor I started to cry so I needed three or four laps to focus, then I lost it again so it was difficult,” explained Lecuona.

“It’s tough to say goodbye to GP after only two years but on the other side I’m really happy to go to Honda in World Superbikes with the factory, so now I need to change my focus to superbikes.

“My career is still long because I’m young so I need to work, improve, enjoy and we’ll see after three, four or five years if I can come back or not.

“It was a difficult race for KTM but then we were not that far compared to other races, I was 15^th and Miguel (Oliveira) was 14^th and Brad (Binder) was seventh but our pace was similar because Brad was only two or three tenths faster than us.”

Lecuona added that he “enjoyed” working with similarly ousted Danilo Petrucci across their single season as team-mates at Tech 3 this season and that he was “happy” the Italian had managed to earn an opportunity to compete at the infamous Dakar Rally with KTM early next year.

He also revealed that he would sample his new Honda Fireblade superbike at Jerez next month, though he would wait until he had completed “two or three” tests before setting out targets for his maiden superbike campaign.

“With Danilo (Petrucci) the results were not really good because you need to fight with your team-mate, then after the summer we knew we weren’t going to continue with the team and the results improved a lot,” continued Lecuona.

“He’s a great guy and we’ve enjoyed (working together) a lot, we’ve had many joking moments in the box and said goodbye and good luck after the race.

“I’m really happy for him doing the Dakar and I think he can do really well.

“I think the first test (for Honda) will be in December at Jerez, I’m really happy for sure but for now I can’t expect to be in front because the bike and tyres are different so I need to work with the team and then we’ll see where we are after two or three tests.”

Lecuona leaves MotoGP having managed a best result of sixth in this year’s Austrian GP, while he achieved 20th-placed riders championship finishes in both 2021 and ’22, scoring 27 and 39 points across both campaigns respectively.

Iker Lecuona tamed the wet conditions to top the opening practice session in Valencia as the final MotoGP event of the 2021 season got underway.

The Tech 3 KTM rider-the Valencia Grand Prix weekend being his last in the series ahead of his move to the World Superbike championship with Honda next year-once again shone as things got slippy as he posted a pair of rapid efforts in the closing stages of the test.

The first practice of the day began in damp conditions, facilitating the use of the wet-compound Michelin tyres as the pilots tried to find their feet, though rain would continue to coat the Spanish venue as the session progressed.

Despite the light showers times continued to drop throughout, with Ducati duo Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller looking to control proceedings out in front as they both took turns heading the times.

Miller had just posted a strong 1:40.724s tour to move himself over half-a-second clear of his team-mate, though his session would end shortly after as he ran wide at Turn 1 on the following lap and lost the front of his Ducati across the painted run-off area.

This left the door open for Lecuona to fire in a 1:40.569s gambit in the final stages of the session, a time that would ultimately prove to be unbeatable, though fellow KTM man Miguel Oliveira looked set to eclipse the Andorran before losing time in the final sector.

Lecuona therefore ended up quickest by just under two-tenths over Miller, while Oliviera’s closing effort saw him slot into third just ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco.

Joan Mir also improved late on to go fifth just ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, who also suffered a crash just after firing himself to the top of the timesheets, the 2021 vice-champion losing the front of his Desmosedici at Turn 2.

Luca Marini also suffered a shunt towards the end but posted an earlier time good enough to leave him seventh ahead of Franco Morbidelli on the lead factory Yamaha, while Honda pair Pol Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami on his LCR-run machine completed the top ten.

Fabio Quartararo once again struggled for speed in the wetter conditions, the recently crowned world champion managing only 15^th in the end.

A heavy crash for Danilo Petrucci at the start of his final FP1 session at Turn 4 saw him skip the majority of the running, leaving him 19^th ahead of Valentino Rossi in 21^st, the Petronas SRT rider electing to not even post a representative time as he hopes to try and end his two-decade premier class career in style this weekend.

The field is made up of only 21 riders this weekend after Honda elected to not replace the injured Marc Marquez for the season finale, Stefan Bradl having taken his place in the Algarve GP one week ago.   

Iker Lecuona ended Friday for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring fastest after pioneering an early switch to slicks, the Andorran 3.3 seconds faster than anyone else.

A heavy rain shower soaked the Austrian venue shortly prior to the start of the second practice session, with several riders-including Lecuona and Tech 3 team-mate Danilo Petrucci-venturing out onto the track early on to get a feel for the conditions on wet-weather rubber.

Lecuona led the way early on with a 1:33.997s, though as conditions continued to improve throughout the 45-minute test several riders enjoyed brief stints at the head of the timesheets, with Jack Miller’s Ducati as well as Honda duo Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro taking the top spot on occasion.

Lecuona though consistently managed to find himself back at the head of the field as the clock ticked down on the session, the circuit now starting to yield a dry-line that made a late change to slicks an ever greater possibility.

It would be the Tech 3 KTM man that elected to take the risk first, soon finding his feet as he posted a 1:30.490s to put himself well clear of the rest.

He would continue to find chunks of time over the final few laps of his run before the chequered flag was shown, Lecuona ending up with a 1:27.520s that left him a full 3.3 seconds clear of Johann Zarco’s Pramac Ducati, the FP1 leader setting his best effort on wet-weather tyres.

Aleix Espargaro ended up third fastest on the sole Aprilia entered this weekend due to team-mate Lorenzo Savadori suffering a broken ankle in last weekend’s Styrian GP, while Marquez and Suzuki’s Alex Rins completed the top five.

Miller as expected also decided to brave a set of slicks in the final few minutes, though the Aussie found himself unable to generate enough heat in his rubber-leaving him only able to set a time good enough for sixth.

Alex Marquez was seventh overall on his LCR Honda ahead of the factory RC213-V of Pol, with series leader Fabio Quartararo and KTM’s Brad Binder rounding out the top ten.

Only 12 riders posted classified times in the tricky session, Styrian GP victor Jorge Martin and the other LCR Honda of Takaaki Nakagami finishing off the competitive order.   

Iker Lecuona has been confirmed to miss this weekend’s MotoGP season finale in Portugal having still not recovered from Covid-19, with KTM test rider Mika Kallio announced as his replacement.

Lecuona was forced to miss both premier class encounters at Valencia as a result of the virus, having had to skip the European Grand Prix despite testing negative due to needing to self-isolate for ten days after his brother contracted the illness in order to respect his native Andorran law.

He travelled to Valencia in preparation for a return to action on Saturday of the Valencia GP event, though this time he tested positive for Covid on Friday evening and had to head back to self-isolation.

His Tech 3 KTM squad has now announced Lecuona will not be ready to contest the last race of the season this weekend at Portimao, the French outfit electing to replace him with KTM tester Kallio.

The Portuguese GP will be Kallio’s first race outing since the ’19 season finale at Valencia, having replaced Johann Zarco at KTM’s factory team for the final six races of the year after the current Avintia rider was stood down on the back of the San Marino GP following his request that the two parites contract for future collaboration be torn up after struggling to 12th in the manufacturer’s home event in Austria.

Kallio has worked as KTM’s main test rider since ’16, competing in 13 GP’s across the five season period and capturing a best result of tenth aboard the RC16, in the Austrian and Spanish contests in ’17 and ’18 respectively.

It is an unfortunate end to a first full MotoGP campaign for Lecuona, the two-time Moto2 podium finisher having undergone a mixed rookie outing after showing great speed on occasion.

He has scored three top ten results across the season-scoring a personal best of ninth in the Austrian and Alcaniz GP’s-though his copybook is blotted somewhat by four retirements, leaving him currently 19^th overall in the riders standings on 27 points.  

Iker lecuona will miss the remainder of the Valencia Grand Prix weekend after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday evening.

The Tech 3 rider was forced to miss the first event staged at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo last weekend after his brother-who works as his personal assistant during race meetings-tested positive for the virus, with law in his native Andorra subsequently demanding he self-isolate for ten days despite testing negative himself.

He tested negative for Covid on Tuesday, meaning he was allowed to travel to Valencia with a view to rejoining the action on Saturday morning-therefore having to miss Friday practice-as he had to wait until Friday evening to undergo a further test.

Unfortunately for Lecuona this test came back positive, meaning he will have to miss his home GP for the second consecutive week and leaving him hoping he’ll be able to take part in the season finale at Portimao in seven days time.

Tech 3 announced that he is currently displaying no Covid-like symptoms, while team owner Herve Poncharal insisted Lecuona would be tested further in the coming days to see whether he will be able to travel to Portugal.  

“We have sad news today. Although Iker has been tested negative three times, the last test he took this morning at the entrance of the circuit showed positive,” said Poncharal.

“Therefore, he won’t be able to enter the circuit and participate at the Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana.

“He will be tested furthermore in order to understand if ever he can fly to Portugal to participate at the last Grand Prix of the season in Portimao.”

Lecuona’s early weekend exit leaves Miguel Oliveira as the sole Tech 3-run KTM taking part in the European GP, and it is so far unclear at this stage whether he would be replaced should he be ruled unfit for the Portuguese GP.

Iker Lecuona will return to MotoGP action for this weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix having been forced to self-isolate for ten days after his brother tested positive for Covid-19.

The Tech 3 KTM racer’s brother-who is also his assistant during race weekends-tested positive for the virus on the run-up to the European GP at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, forcing him to miss the event despite not testing positive for the illness himself.

As a native of the principality of Andorra, anyone that has been in close contact with an individual that tests positive for Covid-19 must also self-isolate for a ten day period, even if they test positive.

Lecuona needed to have just one more test on Tuesday-which he duly passed according to Spanish publication sport.es- as a final precaution before he will be allowed to travel to Valencia on Saturday morning, meaning he will have to miss all of Friday practice with the target of reaching the circuit in time to take part in FP3.

Lecuona will be hoping to end his first full premier class campaign on a high note having experienced a mixed season so far, bagging a pair on ninth-place finishes as his best results so far in the Austrian and Alcaniz GP’s.

His total points haul so far stands at 27, leaving him 17^th in the overall riders table-equal with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro while LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow sits just a further point further back.

The two-time Moto2 podium finisher becomes the second premier class rider this season to return to competition after a self-isolation peroid after Valentino Rossi tested positive for Covid ahead of the Aragon GP last month.

He missed both encounters at the Motorland Aragon circuit as he recovered, while his return for last weekend’s European GP was compromised after having to miss Friday after only receving his second consecutive negative test result on the Friday evening in Valencia, having travelled from Italy overnight after bagging his first negative outcome at home on Thursday night.

Iker Lecuona will be forced to miss this weekend’s European Grand Prix at Valencia after his brother tested positive for Covid-19.

The Tech 3 racer will be forced to enter isolation for ten days as a result due to home region Andorra’s legislation, allowing him the opportunity to potentially re-join the fray for the second Valencia outing next weekend if he can maintain negative status next week.  

Team Manager Herve Poncharal confirmed that Lecuona would not be replaced for this weekend’s encounter, with the French squad instead deciding to focus on sole remaining rider Miguel Oliveira.

“We are very sad to announce that Iker Lecuona won’t be participating in the Gran Premio de Europa this weekend,” said Poncharal in a statement from Tech 3.

“So far, he’s been tested negative, but his brother who is also his assistant, is positive and therefore the Andorran authorities have called him ‘contact case’.

“He will have another test today, but even if it’s negative again, he’s got to stay in quarantine without moving from his home in Andorra for 10 days.

“The plan is to have another test next Wednesday and if this one is negative as well, he will be able to travel to Valencia and participate in Valencia II.

“Of course, he won’t be replaced for this event, therefore the whole Red Bull KTM Tech3 team will concentrate on our sole rider, Miguel Oliveira.”

Lecuona has undergone a tricky debut premier class campaign with Tech 3 KTM so far in 2020, the Spaniard suffering four retirements-including in the opening three races of the campaign-though he has secured three top ten results to date.

His personal bests so far are a pair of ninths at the Austrian GP and the Alcaniz GP last time out, while a total points score of 27 currently leaves him 17^th in the riders standings with three races remaining.