Joan Mir to miss Qatar MotoGP as Honda calls on WorldSBK rider to fill in

2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir will not race in Qatar this week as a result of returning vision problems, reports suggest.

Mir missed four races in a row as a result of an illness he only divulged the details of when returning to racing last weekend in Malaysia.

Blurred vision was a symptom of the illness, and it returned during the race in Malaysia, leading him to retire from the race.

Mir’s absence from Qatar is now being reported by The Race, with Honda WorldSBK rider Jake Dixon set to replace the Spaniard, although there is nothing yet official from HRC.

The Qatar race was already set to be missing several full-time MotoGP riders. Yamaha withdrew from the event last weekend when it published a statement after the Malaysian Grand Prix enforcing its company-wide travel policy for the Middle East region, which has been embroiled in conflict since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in February.

Other riders set to miss the race are both official Gresini Racing riders: Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer. Marquez underwent surgery after the Malaysia race to fix problems he’d been having with his shoulder, while Aldeguer suffered hand fractured in Indonesia.

Gresini will have WorldSBK runner-up Iker Lecuona on its sole Desmosedici in Lusail. Dixon will therefore be the second replacement rider on the Qatar grid.

With no Yamahas, the grid is set to be reduced to 18 riders, and that includes Raul Fernandez and Jorge Martin in its tally. The Trackhouse Aprilia rider is travelling to Qatar with the intention to race, but he has pulled out of the last two races in Australia and Malaysia as a result of a broken finger he sustained in Mandalika. Martin made it clear after withdrawing from Malaysia with the broken wrist he sustained in Australia that he intended to race in Qatar.