Aleix Espargaro back to MotoGP in latest Honda shuffle
Honda test rider Alex Espargaro will return to MotoGP action at this weekend’s Indonesian Grand Prix, replacing fellow test rider Taka Nakagami as stand-in for the unwell Joan Mir.
Espargaro has been drafted in because Nakagami crashed out on his very first lap of the weekend last time out at Motegi and broke his collarbone.
Espargaro’s return to action doesn’t just mark his first time racing since last year’s season finale at Valencia, but it's one of the few times he'll ride a MotoGP machine since a private test crash at Sepang in April left the three-time race winner with a career-threatening shattered back.
He fell during a private outing alongside Nakagami at the Malaysian circuit earlier this year, breaking four vertebrae and needing to be medically evacuated back to Spain before requiring multiple surgeries to stabilise the fractures.
“It is always a great honour to join the factory Honda team in MotoGP,” said Espargaro in a team statement. "I want to say thank you to them for trusting me to ride while Joan and Taka recover.
“After the crash at the start of the year and my injury, I have not had as much time on the bike as I would like, and we travel to Mandalika with realistic expectations as I’ve had only a small number of laps and it’s a really physical track before we even speak about the weather.
“Let’s understand how we can best help the team and Honda this weekend and focus on that.”
The former Aprilia racer spent the opening months of the year focused on Honda’s current RC213V machine, splitting duties with Nakagami while the Japanese rider concentrated on their new 2027-spec 850cc Pirelli-mounted machine until he was forced to take on double duty as test rider for both machines.
That saw him joining the factory team at the Austrian Grand Prix to replace Mir before heading to Japan as a scheduled wildcard on the current 1000cc machine, with Somkiat Chantra deputising for Mir before returning to his regular Honda World Superbike duties this weekend.
However, with Nakagami now out of action thanks to the broken collarbone he sustained at Motegi one week ago during that wildcard outing with Honda’s test team, it may well mean that Espargaro has been briefed to take it easy this weekend at Mandalika.
Another crash would leave Honda in dire straits in the final few months of development for the new bike before handing it over to their 2027 race team.
There has been no further update from Honda on Mir’s condition, with the team reporting before the Japanese Grand Prix that he continued to recuperate at home under the care of his medical team as he undergoes "a series of tests" with "the goal to uncover the root cause of a variety of symptoms the Honda HRC Castrol rider has been suffering from for several months".
