The replacement rider for Marc Márquez in the Repsol Honda Team finishes close to the points at Jerez. Joan Mir crashes out on the second lap.
The Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth round of the 2023 season, took place under cloudy skies and with temperatures lower than on the previous two days. The premier class race -like Saturday’s Sprint Race- was interrupted by a red flag after a crash at Turn 2 on the opening lap.
Once the 24-lap race resumed, Iker Lecuona was able to improve his pace, lap-by-lap, and move up the order. In the end, he crossed the finish line in sixteenth, 0.382s off scoring a point in the overall standings.
Joan Mir made a good start and gained positions in the early stages of the race. On the second lap, when he was riding in seventeenth, the Repsol Honda Team rider suffered a crash that brought his afternoon to an early end.
On Monday the Repsol Honda Team will carry out a day of testing at Jerez with Joan Mir.
JOAN MIR – DNF
“The hot temperatures of the weekend made everything more critical, we are still working to understand the bike and overcome some limits. When I try to push I feel like I arrive at the limit and I lose the front, it’s a combination of the bike and my style. Fortunately we have the test tomorrow to work on it and I think we can improve our base setting a bit tomorrow. Looking at what Honda was trying with Stefan this weekend, I think there are some things which will help us so I am optimistic for tomorrow. We are still in the early stages, just four races with this bike and we need to keep working to improve.”
IKER LECUONA – 16th
“First of all I just want to say that this weekend was like a dream, to race the Spanish GP as an official factory MotoGP rider – and in the Repsol Honda Team, it’s a moment I have thought about since I was a kid. I need to say a massive thank you to HRC, Repsol and all of the crew here. Everyone worked so well and all of them helped me so much. Every time we got on the bike we went faster and felt better. In the race, for the first ten laps I was able to stay with the group but then I felt the front tyre drop a bit, I didn’t know how to manage it and I lost some time to the other riders. Then towards the end I understood more about the bike and the tyres and I was able to gain on Raul a lot. Maybe with half a lap more I could get him and get a point. I didn’t know there was a point on the table, but anyway it has been a great weekend and I am really happy. Thanks to everyone once again and now I get ready for the next WorldSBK weekend in Barcelona.”
