Jake Dixon (Honda HRC) has made his MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship return at a two-day test at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, more than three months on from his crash at the Official Test in Australia which left him with a fractured left wrist. It’s been a long road to recovery for the British rookie, but Dixon has now set his sights on the upcoming Aragon Round to make his WorldSBK debut in a round.
Dixon joined Honda HRC for the 2026 season from Moto2 but a highside in the Official Test at Phillip Island at Turn 11 left him with a fractured left wrist. He subsequently underwent surgery on the injury in Melbourne before returning home to Andorra and continuing his recovery. Now, in May, three months after the accident, Dixon was back on his CBR1000RR-R SP machine in Italy as his recovery stepped up a gear.
Across the two days, Dixon completed 87 laps, with 50 of those on Wednesday. Impressively, for his first time on the bike in three months, the Brit led Honda’s charge on the first day of the test, posting a 1’33.941s ahead of test rider Jonathan Rea and teammate Somkiat Chantra, although less than a tenth separated the trio. On Day 2, Dixon completed another 37 laps and improved his best lap time by half-a-second compared to the opening day of action with a 1’33.405s. Chantra was the lead Honda rider on Thursday, setting a 1’33.345s.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Dixon’s stint lengths were rather limited. His longest single run, not including in or out laps, was six laps in FP1 and the longest runs in each session gradually reduced as the test progressed. He completed a five-lap run in FP2 for his longest run, and in FP3 it was four laps. By FP4, the seven-time Moto2 winner was doing two-lap stints.
Reflecting on his test and the wrist following the two days, Dixon said: “It feels so good to be back with the team. My wrist is still sore, and I could only do short runs, but just being back on the bike was great. I’m happy with how it’s gone here; it’s been a good two days at Misano, despite the fact that I couldn’t complete many laps or long runs, as I still need to manage my physical condition carefully. Step by step, we are trying to improve. During the sessions, we used ice treatment and I also worked constantly with my physio, which really helped. On Thursday, I completed fewer laps than Wednesday because I probably pushed a little too much on day one, so the wrist is still quite sore and swollen, but that’s something we expected. I’m just happy to be back riding again. Now we’ll head to Aragon with the team and see what will be possible there. Realistically, I think it will still take quite some time before I feel close to 100% on the bike again, but we’ll keep building little by little.”
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