Image: Supplied.

The Repsol Honda Team has confirmed that Iker Lecuona will make another fill-in appearance with the outfit this weekend at Assen, in place of the recovering Joan Mir as Marc Marquez will compete at the Dutch TT.

It marks the second time this season that Lecuona – a Team Honda HRC WorldSBK regular – will serve as a replacement rider for the team, previously filling in for Marquez at Jerez where he completed the weekend 16th in the Spanish GP.

“First of all I want to wish Joan all the best in his recovery,” Lecuona explained. “I am excited to join the team again, it’s a true honour. Assen is a circuit I like, I got my first WorldSBK podium there so hopefully we can have another good weekend like in Jerez. I am still recovering a bit after the crash in Misano, so this will be a good physical test too. Let’s ride!”

It’s been a tough start to the Repsol Honda stint of Mir, sidelined from Assen as he recovers from a hand injury sustained in a Mugello practice crash.

On the other side of the garage, after multiple falls during the weekend, Marquez made the decision not to compete in the German GP following a tumble in the morning warm-up. However, it has been confirmed that he will return for the eighth round of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship, commencing on Friday.

“I arrive in Assen looking to put the hard weekend in Germany behind me. We have one more race before the summer break and the objective is to gather a lot of good data for the engineers so they can work over these next weeks,” said Marquez. “This is the focus for the weekend, we need to remain calm and approach the weekend with a clear plan.”