How Iker Lecuona has a shot at a MotoGP return - but not for next year

A move back to MotoGP could be in Iker Lecuona’s future, but not next year.

Lecuona was previously in MotoGP in 2020 and 2021, but moved to WorldSBK in 2022 with Honda after KTM dropped him from the Tech3 team to make space for Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez.

After four years with HRC, which saw him ride as a fill-in at LCR Honda on several occasions, Lecuona moved to Ducati for 2026. He won four races in his first year with the Bologna brand and finished second in the championship, finishing on the podium in 29 of the 33 races, as well as riding multiple races as a fill-in for Gresini with some solid results, such as a seventh in Hungary.

With 2026 WorldSBK champion Nicolo Bulega moving to MotoGP next year with the VR46 Ducati team, Lecuona will move into effectively the team leader role at Aruba.it Racing, where he will be partnered by Franco Morbidelli.

Bulega is the second rider in two years to move to MotoGP after winning the WorldSBK title after Toprak Razgatlioglu made the switch this year, following the clinching of his third title last year.

And Lecuona could be the third in three years, GPOne reports, thanks to an apparent clause in his new two-year contract with Ducati – which was signed this summer after he won his first race at Donington – that would allow him to move to MotoGP in 2028, after only one season of his current contract, should he receive an offer to go there from a Ducati team.

It’s a clause that clearly opens a door for Lecuona, but the Spaniard will be 28 by the start of the 2028 MotoGP season. He’s no longer a rider who can trade on potential – only results will convince a MotoGP team that he’s worth their ride over a promising Moto2 talent.

Considering the uncertainty over Bulega’s move for half of 2026, a year in which the Italian won all but four of the races and clinched the title with six races to go, it seems a tough task for Lecuona to be able to achieve the necessary results for a team to want to sign him. 

On the other hand, he will have next to him a MotoGP race winner next year in the aforementioned Morbidelli, even if the 2017 Moto2 world champion has not won a grand prix since 2020, has only been on the podium three times since then, and has been more notable for impeding other riders in practice sessions than for his results on a Sunday.