After a surprise seventh-place finish in his last MotoGP World Championship appearance, Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) returned to the MotoGP paddock atop the BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati bike, riding as a replacement for the injured Fermin Aldeguer. While he didn’t quite enjoy the success of his last appearance in the Hungarian GP, he impressed in Q1, clinching one of two spots through to Q2 and landing a subsequent P10 starting position.
Donning the #27, Lecuona started with a 2.00.008s Free Practice 1 time to kick off his weekend from P16, and he followed that up with another sixteenth-place finish in Friday afternoon’s Practice session. Forced to fight for his spot in Saturday’s Q1, the Spaniard stole the show and snagged the final spot to advance into Q2. His 1’57.313s lap clocked in two tenths slower than Franco Morbidelli, and his lap benefitted from a friendly tow from the #21. The good faith between the pair perhaps is not so coincidental, as they may be riding side by side in 2027 at the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati squad if Nicolo Bulega finally moves over to the MotoGP paddock.
The mood changed, however, in Saturday’s Sprint Race, as after battling with Morbidelli for P10, the Italian made an incisive move down the inside on Turn 16 of the opening lap that ended up with Lecuona on the gravel. Morbidelli stated after the race that there was no contact between the two; however, Lecuona was none too pleased with the move, as he gesticulated from the gravel in dusty leathers. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, Sunday afternoon’s Grand Prix ended similarly, tumbling out of the race on Turn 12 of Lap 6 from P14.
While Lecuona finished the weekend with a pair of DNFs and no points to his name, he made another strong showing for himself in 2026 after not having appeared in the MotoGP paddock since the Qatar GP in 2023 with LCR Honda.
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