World Superbike racer Loris Baz gets a surprise MotoGP call-up to race for KTM in this weekend’s British Grand Prix for KTM.

The 25-year-old will ride the KTM’s RC16 this weekend at Silverstone alongside Bradley Smith as Pol Espargaro is yet to recover from his collarbone and back injuries sustained in the Czech Grand Prix weekend.

The Frenchman made his MotoGP debut in 2015 riding a Yamaha for satellite outfit Forward Racing and made the switch to Avintia Racing for the next two years, riding a satellite Ducati machinery.

Despite scoring regular points, Baz only had handful of standout performances in his short MotoGP career with fourth being his best twice in 2015 San Marino GP and 2016 Czech GP. At Silverstone, he only had one points finish in 2017.

Following the end of his MotoGP career, Baz moved to World Superbike Championship in 2018 where he races for Gulf Althea BMW Racing Team and sits 12th with 86 points after nine rounds in the season.

Baz gets the opportunity as KTM’s test rider Mika Kallio is injured as well while stand-in test rider Randy de Puniet decided against riding the RC16 in a competitive race weekend without a test run.