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World Superbike racer Iker Lecuona being called up to replace LCR Honda’s Alex Rins at the next round of the 2023 MotoGP championship at Silverstone will mark Lecuona’s third premier-class start of the season.
In effect, it positions Lecuona as Honda’s go-to stand-in rider – a role that has in the past traditionally been held by hard-working tester Stefan Bradl.
However, the circumstances of Lecuona’s ride at the British Grand Prix are very different from his previous two outings in Repsol Honda colours standing in for both Marc Marquez and Joan Mir. That’s because it comes at the expense of his participation in arguably the single most important motorcycle race of the year and hints at the depths of Honda’s looming rider recruitment problem.
Instead of coming to Silverstone next week to take the spot of the injured Rins, Lecuona should instead be heading to Japan alongside World Superbike team-mate Xavi Vierge and Honda test rider Takumi Takahashi to compete in the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race.
A Suzuka victor last year alongside Takahashi and Moto2 race winner Tetsuta Nagashima, Lecuona was part of a dream team announced by Honda for 2023 as it looks to retain its crown in a race that very much ranks as one of the most important dates in its calendar.
So Lecuona being withdrawn – in favour of Nagashima – to compete at Silverstone instead is a surprise given just how seriously Honda takes the endurance, which is not only historically significant in motorcycle racing but takes place at the Honda-owned Suzuka circuit.
But the decision certainly adds substance to some of the silly season rumours currently circulating, including one that even links Lecuona to a MotoGP return after his previous time on a disappointing KTM machine came to an end in 2021.
It seems that right now, despite in theory having its 2024 rider line-up largely set in stone, Honda is facing the prospect of a talent exodus – as racers look to flee what has become a seemingly impossible-to-ride RC213V bike.
LCR rider Rins is deep in talks with Yamaha to replace Franco Morbidelli alongside Fabio Quartararo.
Rins’ former Suzuki team-mate and 2020 world champion Mir is also reportedly looking for an escape route from Honda, recently linked to a Gresini Ducati ride that would come at the expense of Fabio Di Giannantonio.
And while Marquez might be on the most financially-lucrative MotoGP contract ever signed, even he’s believed to at least be considering his future options, with Repsol Honda team boss Alberto Puig making the shock confession last month that Honda wouldn’t stand in the way of the six-time world champion next season should he choose to leave.
All this may just present a golden opportunity for Lecuona to find his own way back into the premier class.
When he was a Tech3 KTM satellite rider in 2020 and 2021, the general consensus was that the then-teenager was promoted too soon, not given enough time to develop on a bike that at the time wasn’t competitive. He therefore still has something to give in MotoGP should he get another opportunity.
That is something in part evidenced by his form last year on the Honda Fireblade, a bike far from WSBK’s best that he nonetheless made a fairly regular top-five finisher – albeit with this year proving much less fruitful so far.
In MotoGP, the days of riders wanting to race for Honda just because it’s Honda seem to be gone, destroyed (at least for now) by the sight of so many good riders proving such an uneasy fit with the RC213V.
It’s hard to imagine that that’s a situation that will remain forever, of course. But it’s not one that many on the MotoGP grid (already well into the peak years of their career now) might be willing to take a gamble on changing within a timescale that works for them.
But the established stars’ reluctance to go near Honda does potentially leave the door open for a youngster with time on their side to take a gamble on the team and make an unexpected return to the premier class.
