The Honda HRC WorldSBK star will line up alongside Marini in Lusail while the 2020 World Champion continues his recovery at home. 

Honda HRC Castrol have confirmed that WorldSBK star Jake Dixon will replace Joan Mir at this weekend’s Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Qatar.

Mir, who returned to action last weekend in Sepang, was forced to withdraw from the Grand Prix in Malaysia and will continue recovering at home. 

In his place comes the experienced Dixon, who spent seven years in the Grand Prix paddock from 2019 to 2025, collecting seven wins and 22 podiums in Moto2. In 2021, the British rider also made two MotoGP starts with a best finish of 19th coming at his home round at Silverstone. The 2026 WorldSBK season has been one complicated by injury for the #96, but a return to fitness in the latter half of the season saw him take five top-10 finishes aboard the CBR1000RR-R SP.

Dixon: “First of all I have to say thank you to Honda HRC for this opportunity. Getting the call to come ride one of these bikes is always mega and I am looking forward to it, I think every rider dreams of racing for the Honda factory team in MotoGP when they’re a kid. It’s been a little bit since I last raced a MotoGP bike, so we need to take the weekend steady and go step by step. I want to wish Joan all the best and I hope to see him back on the bike soon. It hasn’t been a straightforward year for me either, so I sympathise a lot with him. Let’s make the most of this weekend.”