Gresini surprises everyone
In the last weekend at Aragon, and beyond, Iker Lecuona tried several times to end Nicolò Bulega’s unstoppable dominance in Superbike, winner of all the races in the production-based motorcycle championship. The Spaniard will try again at the next event in Misano Adriatico, scheduled in two weeks, but this weekend he will be the protagonist of a much-anticipated return.
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Lecuona, in fact, has been officially announced by the Gresini team as replacement for fellow countryman Alex Marquez for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The brother of the nine-time world champion is still recovering from the bad crash that happened in Barcelona, and will not be able to participate in the weekend scheduled on the twisty Balaton Park circuit, where Lecuona has already raced the SBK Round finishing 2nd in all races.
.#HungarianGP Iker Lecuona #27 is set to make his return to the MotoGP paddock, replacing Álex Márquez #73 at Balaton Park for Round 8 of the season. pic.twitter.com/qbjiCIB8sY
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— Gresini Racing (@GresiniRacing) June 2, 2026
The MotoGP experience
Gresini therefore did not renew Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, who raced at Mugello a few days ago. For Lecuona, it will be a return to MotoGP after the 2023 Qatar GP; following his debut in Moto2 in the second half of the 2016 season, the Spaniard stayed in the intermediate class of the premier category until 2019, making his debut in Valencia aboard the KTM and remaining there until 2021. Moving to Superbike in 2022, in 2023 Lecuona raced only seven races with Honda replacing Alex Rins.
