Joan Mir lit up Saturday practice at the Catalan MotoGP, declaring: “We can fight for something serious. Something more than the top five.” The HRC rider not only topped the session but edged out Alex Marquez — who later led the Sprint — on identical tyres with the same mileage.
Both riders began FP2 on nearly-new soft rears and medium fronts. Their best laps came with the rears at 8 laps old and the fronts at 12–13 laps, almost identical to the Sprint’s 12-lap distance.
“This morning, running alone without any help, we had some serious pace and it showed that in the race, if we can go like this, we can fight for something serious. Something more than the top five,” Mir said on Saturday evening.
But for the former world champion, the dream ended quickly. He slumped to 17th in Q1, picked up a three-place grid penalty for blocking Jorge Martin, and then struggled to 13th in the Sprint.
“We saw some shining moments today, but honestly, I am not happy with our performance,” Mir admitted.
“Now, we need to improve how our front tyre is reacting during the race because the feeling changed a lot through the race and I wasn’t confident as I was in the morning. Today has been encouraging on one side, but on the other side it was tough because we, as Honda, need to improve our situation in Qualifying. I had the feeling today that I could do a lot more, that’s why today has been frustrating.”
Meanwhile, teammate Luca Marini fought with Johann Zarco of LCR for seventh and top Honda honors in the Sprint, losing out by just 0.3s.
“The second group that we are in all has a very similar pace, starting further up the grid is a big help so I am really happy with how we have worked to arrive here,” said Marini, who qualified tenth.
“It’s a satisfying result so far, it really shows our development with the bike compared to last year and finally, that’s what this project is about. There is still more to do, of course, but we have to understand how we are improving. I tried something on Zarco right at the end, but it was really on the limit and he got back past me – but an enjoyable race with the battle. Tomorrow’s race will be long and everyone will need to pay attention to the tyres, we know what we have to do between now and then.”
For Sunday’s 24-lap Grand Prix, Michelin has advised riders to switch to the medium rear tyre.
