John Hopkins lands Sepang wild card ride

John Hopkins will be back on a factory Suzuki MotoGP bike in the Malaysian round next month, MCN can reveal.

The American, who is currently leading the British Superbike championship for Paul Denning’s Samsung Crescent Suzuki squad, will partner Spaniard Alvaro Bautista in Sepang on October 23.

Hopkins was due to make a wild card appearance for Suzuki in Brno last month but a practice crash left him with a badly broken right hand and he was forced to withdraw from the race.

The former factory Kawasaki rider, who replaced injured Bautista in Jerez, has also been locked in talks about a potential wild card for Suzuki in the final round of the season in Valencia, though that seems unlikely.

A Suzuki spokesperson said: “John will be back with us for the Sepang race and everybody in the team is looking forward to welcoming him back. John is really fired up and determined to put the disappointment of Brno behind him.”