Ryo Mizuno will be replacing the recovering Eric Granado at the Emilia-Romagna Round of the WorldSBK season this weekend.
The Japanese rider will become the newest name on the list of World Superbike riders on the grid for the Misano round of the 2023 season. Mizuno will be substituted into the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team, to replace Granado.
Mizuno will partner Hafizh Syahrin, who is back in action after missing the Misano test due to an injury he picked up at the Catalan round.
In 2022 Mizuno raced in the BSB Championship with the Honda Racing UK squad. The Japanese rider finished 23rd overall in Britain with a best result of 11th. So far this season Mizuno is fourth overall in the Japanese Superbike Championship.
Mizuno has ridden a Honda CBR1000RR-R machine before, but he has never tested or ridden one in the World Championship specification.
Granado said this about not being able to ride at Misano: “I’ve been slowly regaining my strength in the weeks since my crash and feel good actually, physically and mentally.
"As a rider I would like to race, and feel ready, but the doctors have said I can’t compete at Misano. The brain swelling I suffered was quite serious and I had to spend a week in hospital, after which the doctors would only let me walk, no other kind of training.
"It seems that there’s still some slight swelling now and so it would be unwise to race. The important thing is that I feel good in myself, so I’ll focus on gradually getting back into my training in order to be ready for the Donington round.”
