Loris Baz will make his MotoGP return at this weekend's British Grand Prix as the injured Pol Espargaro's replacement at KTM.
Espargaro suffered a broken collarbone and inflamed spinal chord in a heavy fall during warm-up for the Czech Grand Prix at Brno, and has been absent since.
With test rider Mika Kallio also out injured following a crash during the Sachsenring weekend, KTM was forced to field just Bradley Smith at its home event at the Red Bull Ring.
While KTM could have raced at Silverstone with just one entrant, the rules state “every reasonable effort must be made” to seek a replacement.
With usual stand-in Kallio out of action, KTM was left with limited options. Former Tech3 rider Jonas Folger was rumoured as a potential replacement, though it is thought the German has signed a deal with Yamaha to be its official European test rider.
KTM recently announced Randy de Puniet would take over Kallio's testing duties for the rest of 2018, but has not raced in MotoGP since the final race of 2014 and has not ridden the RC16 since 2016.
Confirming via its Twitter page Espargaro has once again been ruled unfit to race at Silverstone, KTM has announced Baz will take his place.
The French rider raced in MotoGP between 2015 and 2017 with Forward Racing and Avintia, and returned to World Superbikes this year with the Althea BMW squad, where he currently lies 12th in the points.
KTM currently sits fifth in the manufacturers' standings on 41 points, 12 more than it had amassed at this stages in its debut campaign last year, with Espargaro 15th and Smith 19th in the riders' table.
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