Repsol Honda Team sign off first half of 2024 in Germany

Luca Marini capped off his most consistent weekend of the year with a hard-fought German GP and his first score as a Repsol Honda Team rider.

It was a full house for the Round Nine of the MotoGP World Championship, fans flocking into the Sachsenring from early in the morning. The Repsol Honda Team were primed for an intense day of action, eager to collect the final bits of information before the summer break.

Having shown his pace throughout the weekend, Luca Marini was determined to once again lead the Honda charge. Heading into the longer 30-lap Grand Prix, Marini knew he’d need to revise his strategy compared to Saturday and went about steadily building his speed over the opening laps. As the race entered its final third, Marini attacked and moved ahead of Takaaki Nakagami to lead the group. The Honda pairing would battle right until the line, Nakagami just pipping Marini who finished 16th – 25.854 seconds behind the winner. A post-race penalty for Augusto Fernandez promoted Marini into 15th, scoring his first point of the season. A small reward for his diligent work.

Joan Mir meanwhile showed the determination of a champion as he continued to work tirelessly with his team to improve his fortunes. It would be a third and final complicated day for the #36 as he took 18th after post-race penalties, still searching for the next step in the setup of his Honda RC213V machine. Work to understand what happened started immediatley as he sat down with his team and began to go over the data.

Both of the Repsol Honda Team riders have identified clear areas to work on for the remainder of the season and are hopeful of further progress when action resumes in Silverstone. The British GP will start the second half of the 2024 season in early August and feature a special historical livery for the Repsol Honda Team.