Iker Lecuona

Iker Lecuona was born in Valencia, Spain, on 6 January 2000.

Lecuona joined Team HRC in WorldSBK in 2022, scoring a podium finish during the second round of the season. After an initial two-year period with the squad, Lecuona’s contract with Team HRC was extended for the 2024 and 2025 seasons, the Spaniard continuing to compete alongside team-mate Xavi Vierge.

Background

Lecuona’s international career began in 2015, when he competed in the FIM CEV Repsol Moto2 International Championship. In 2016, and just old enough to meet the category’s minimum age requirement, he made his debut in the Moto2 World Championship with the CarXpert Interwetten team, as stepping in as a replacement for Dominique Aegerter and riding a Kalex bike over six rounds. Lecuona remained with the same team for the following three seasons, on the Kalex in 2017 and then, in 2018 and 2019, on a KTM with which he achieved two podiums, at Valencia in 2018 (second) and in Thailand in 2019 (third). He made his MotoGP debut at the final round of the season in Valencia.

Iker became a full-time Tech 3 rider for the 2020 MotoGP World Championship season. Despite entering the class at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the rookie ran a solid season, scoring three top ten finishes. Showing a determination and speed that often saw him battling on equal terms against much more experienced opponents, Lecuona finished his second MotoGP season in 20th position overall, with three more top ten finishes and with a strong sixth-place finish at the Austrian GP as his best result.

Signed by Honda to be a factory HRC rider in 2022, Lecuona enjoyed an impressive WorldSBK rookie season and achieved his first podium already at round 2, when he placed third at Assen. Battling inside the top five during most of the subsequent races, the Catalunya round saw Lecuona put Honda and the Fireblade back on pole position for the first time since 2016 (Michael van der Mark, Buriram). Unable to compete in the final two rounds due to injury, the Spanish rider placed ninth overall at the end of the season. Adding to what was already a strong year, Iker teamed up with BSB rider Takumi Takahashi and HRC official test rider Tetsuta Nagashima to compete in the Suzuka 8 Hours on 7 August 2022. The team scored an historic debut victory, which marked the 28^th win for Honda in the famous endurance race, and its first since 2014. The riders competed with factory bikes based on the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE SP and also set pole position with an all-time record lap of 2:04.934 and the fastest lap of the race, completed in 2:06.930 (both by Nagashima).

The young Spaniard remained with Team HRC for the 2023 WorldSBK championship, where he again battled in the top five on many occasions. Iker represented HRC in the MotoGP Championship a total of seven times in 2023, stepping in as a replacement rider for both the Repsol Honda Team and LCR Team.

Having made an impression on and off the track with their talent, speed, and positive attitude, both Iker Lecuona and team-mate Xavi Vierge were reconfirmed by Honda Racing Corporation for 2024 and 2025.

The 2024 WorldSBK brought challenges, but the squad remained focused on the task at hand, which resulted in a significant upturn in results during the latter part of the season. Several top six finishes for Iker were followed up with a podium at the penultimate round in Estoril, with Iker placing twelfth overall at the end of the season. Lecuona and his team plan to start their 2025 campaign from where they left off last season and build on that positive trend.