Honda announces Joan Mir’s replacement for Indonesian MotoGP

Honda has confirmed Joan Mir will miss this weekend’s Indonesian grand prix, with Aleix Espargaro named as his replacement.

This will be Espargaro’s first appearance of the season for HRC, while Mir continues to be sidelined by unconfirmed health issues.

Espargaro has seen limited track time in 2026 after suffering an injury during pre-season testing at Sepang. 

Espargaro has since undergone follow-up surgery to remove metalwork inserted into his back, after plates and screws were required when the three-time MotoGP race winner suffered four fractured vertebrae in his accident. 

The injuries mean Espargaro has been unable to test the RC213V as often as was planned, while it has also scuppered wildcard appearances that were scheduled. 

Set to make his first appearance since the 2025 season-finale at Valencia, Espargaro said: “Of course it is always a great honour to join the factory Honda team in MotoGP and I want to say thank you to them for trusting me to ride while Joan and Taka recover. 

“After the crash at the start of the year and my injury, I have not had as much time on the bike as I would like and we travel to Mandalika with realistic expectations as I’ve had only a small numbers of laps and it’s a really physical track before we even speak about the weather. 

“Let’s understand how we can best help the team and Honda this weekend and focus on that.”

Stepping in for Mir at last weekend’s Japanese MotoGP was Honda WorldSBK rider Somkiat Chantra, who impressed on his grand prix return.

The Thai rider finished 13th in Sunday’s race which was only three places behind Luca Marini. 

Speaking of the Italian, Marini is currently the top Honda rider in the standings as he looks to close in on Enea Bastianini and Fermin Aldeguer in the battle for 10th in the championship.