Barbera to stand in for Iannone again in Australia
Hector Barbera will get a second race with the Ducati factory team as he compete in place of the injured Andrea Iannone at Phillip Island.
Hector Barbera, Ducati Team
Ducati Corse
Iannone has missed the last three MotoGP races through injury, having sustained a T3 microfrature in a practice crash at Misano.
The Italian was deemed unfit for the San Marino Grand Prix and tried to return at Aragon, but pulled out of the weekend after Friday practice due to too much pain.
He has since missed Motegi and will now skip Phillip Island as well as his recovery continues.
After Michele Pirro replaced Iannone at Misano and Aragon, Avintia Ducati rider Barbera was called up to the works squad at Motegi – and the Spaniard will continue aboard Iannone's bike in Australia.
Barbera qualified eighth at Motegi and was running in the very same position when he fell on lap nine. He went on to finish 17th.
It was only the second non-score of what has been an impressive season for the 29-year-old satellite rider so far, with Barbera sat 10th in the standings.
"This morning we learned that Andrea will not be available before Sepang and we believe Hector deserves the opportunity to continue working with us," said Ducati's Paolo Ciabatti.
"He has done well this weekend, he's been improving every time he exited the pits."
Mike Jones will continue to substitute for Barbera at Avintia for his home race, having finished 18th on his MotoGP debut in Japan.
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