Lecuona does not close the door to MotoGP: “If an opportunity arises...”

Iker Lecuona only has reason to smile at the great season he's doing at the Superbikes World Cup. The Spanish pilot, who this season debuts in this category, quickly adapted to Ducati Panigale V4R and settled in a solid second position of the championship.

The good performances, allied to the misfortunes of third parties, led him to be called twice to act in the MotoGP World Cup. After his impressive debut at the Hungarian GP, where he surprisingly finished seventh, Lecuona will return to the category queen of motorcycle racing at the Great Britain Grand Prix, replacing injured Fermin Aldeguer at Gresini Racing.

In an interview with the Italian portal MotoSprint, the Spanish pilot ensures that he is not obsessed with a definitive return to MotoGP and recalled the experience in Hungary.

“Speaking of Hungary, it went quite well, despite having to find out and learn everything practically from scratch. I haven't competed in MotoGP since 2023 and found a category that has evolved a lot in the meantime. On Superbike we had a lot of fun, but piloting a prototype of this level is another story. The current Ducati is a completely different world from the KTM and Honda that I piloted before”, started by saying Lecuona.

“If an opportunity arises, I take it. But I don't even think about it much. In my third year with HRC on Superbike, I had a real opportunity to climb MotoGP. At the last moment they went back and withdrew the proposal. It was a hard disappointment to accept. So now I enjoy what I'm doing with Ducati on Superbike. If I get an offer for the next two years, I'll take it. Otherwise, patience”, he added.

Lecuona also commented on the hypothesis of his teammate and leader of the Superbikes classification, Nicolò Bulega, being promoted to MotoGP in the next season.

“ You can get along just fine because you have amazing talent. I'm glad he makes that leap, because he deserves this opportunity. It's fast, strong and can be very competitive. The Bulega deserves this opportunity and, looking at the entire paddock of serial derived motorcycles, only the two of us would deserve it. There's a big difference between us and the rest. And whoever says otherwise is an idiot ", he stressed Spanish, who also spoke of Toprak Razgatlioglu's debut at MotoGP with Yamaha.

“ You're doing a good job, despite some falls at first. I looked at the situation and realized the dynamics: I was trying to stop Michelin tires the same way I did with the Pirellis. Still, the results are positive, because it is always close to Yamaha pilots with more experience. On some occasions he even stood ahead of them. It is a pity that the M1 is not at the highest level ", still shot.

“I would like someone coming from the paddock of motorcycles derived from serial, not from MotoGP or related categories. I think it makes sense to bet on a young man and give him two years to learn and grow. If it were up to me, I'd be looking for someone hungry. Because having an appetite isn't enough. One must hunger for results and hunger to win in life ", finished.