Maverick Vinales will return to the sidelines, and Pol Espargaro will take his place at Phillip Island and Sepang.

At the Australian and Malaysian Grand Prix, the injured Maverick Vinales will be replaced by the KTM Test Rider, Pol Espargaro, in the Red Bull KTM Tech3 garage.

After injuring his left shoulder at the German Grand Prix, Vinales was replaced by Espargaro at the Czech Republic and Hungarian Grand Prix. However, the Spaniard returned for the Catalan, San Marino, and Japanese Grand Prix, but withdrew from the Indonesian Grand Prix due to his injuries.

Vinales has now elected to take a step back and focus on his rehab ahead of the final European leg of the season at Portimao and Valencia.

Espargaro is not new to the Tech3 family, as he competed for the French team for four seasons between 2014 and 2016, and then again in 2023. The next two race weekends will see Espargaro help further develop the RC16 across race weekends rather than test sessions.

"As I said in my previous Grand Prix appearances, having to do it because a teammate is injured is not something I particularly like," Espargaro said.

"I know that Maverick has made a huge effort to keep racing, so the first thing I want to say is that I hope this absence helps him to speed up his recovery and that he can come back as soon as possible, because we need him at KTM.

"I’m returning to my Tech3 family and, as in Brno and Balaton Park, with the goal of helping the project as much as I can and making the most of these weekends to make progress with our bike and support the other riders.

"Phillip Island is a circuit I really like, although it’s been a while since I last rode there. As always, I’ll try to give my best to build a productive weekend for everybody."