With the 2026 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship already done and dusted, Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) donned the baby blue BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP leathers as he stepped in to replace his injured countryman, Fermin Aldeguer. The #54 fractured his hand during the previous Indonesian GP and will miss the upcoming Malaysian GP as well, where Lecuona will replace him again. On Sunday in Australia, due to limited visibility affecting the operation of the medical helicopter; the MotoGP Grand Prix race, in addition to the Moto2 and Moto3 races, were cancelled. WorldSBK’s #7 impressed on Saturday, however, taking his best-ever result in the Sprint Race.
SHAKING OFF THE RUST
Duty called Lecuona back to Phillip Island for the second time in 2026 as Aldeguer remained out after undergoing surgery on a fractured first metacarpal bone in his right hand suffered at the Indonesian GP. P17 and P16 rang in the round’s FP1 and Practice sessions, then improved to P15 in FP2 as he got back up to speed on the MotoGP-spec bike. His Practice P16 sent him to Q1, where he finished fourth-fastest with a 1‘36.296s time but missed the cut for Q2 by just over eight tenths of a second.
P14 TO A P9 FINISH IN THE SPRINT RACE
Starting from back in P14 behind future WorldSBK competitor Brad Binder, Lecuona moved up to P12 by Lap 2 after retirements by Pecco Bagnaia and Johann Zarco. On Lap 7, Lecuona inherited another place after Jorge Martin crashed out from P2. On Lap 9, he took two more positions after Raul Fernandez retired, and the #27 passed Diogo Moreira to sit P9. On the final lap, the Brazilian rookie took back ninth place, but following a tyre pressure sanction applied by FIM MotoGP Stewards to P6 finisher Ai Ogura, resulting in an eight-second penalty, Lecuona’s result improved to a P9 finish.
The result looked as though he would be on the front foot in Sunday’s full-length Grand Prix event, but torrential rain caused the race to be cancelled for safety reasons. Lecuona will get another crack at the MotoGP field at Sepang, however, as Aldeguer will remain out with injury at the Malaysian GP after undergoing surgery.
Catch Lecuona on the grid at Phillip Island for WorldSBK’s final round at the historic circuit in 2027 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!