Iker Lecuona out of Suzuka 8 Hours after Hungarian WorldSBK crash

Iker Lecuona has confirmed that he will miss the Suzuka 8 Hours after crashing in Race 1 at the Hungarian WorldSBK.

Lecuona was involved in a multi-rider crash at the second turn on the opening lap of Race 1 at Balaton Park. 

After the incident, Lecuona was taken to the medical centre where he was diagnosed with a broken left wrist and declared unfit for Sunday’s races. In an Instagram post, Lecuona said he is planning to travel to Valencia on Sunday 27 July for surgery on his wrist on the 28th.

Remy Gardner and Garrett Gerloff were also injured in the crash. Gardner was taken to hospital with a back contusion and a suspected concussion, while Gerloff had worsening symptoms after finishing ninth in Race 1 and was diagnosed with a back injury afterwards.

The crash was triggered by Andrea Iannone, who lifted the rear tyre of his Go Eleven Ducati under braking and lost control. He received a double long lap penalty for the restart and finished 13th.

Iker Lecuona was due to race the Suzuka 8 Hours next weekend for Honda, but the proximity of his crash at Balaton to the endurance race means he will have to miss it.

Lecuona was brought into Honda’s Suzuka 8 Hours team for 2025, alongside Takumi Takahashi and Johann Zarco, following a testing crash for Luca Marini at the end of May, but will now have to be replaced.

The Spaniard won the Japanese endurance race with Honda in 2022, but was replaced in the 2023 team by Xavi Vierge as Lecuona was filling in for Alex Rins at LCR Honda in MotoGP.

With the Suzuka race only a week away, Honda has limited time to name a replacement for Lecuona.

The Spaniard has a six-week break from World Superbike to recover, with the next round on 5-7 September at Magny-Cours.