First day of 2025 completed in Barcelona
Times moves fast, especially when you’re Grand Prix motorcycle racing, and there was no time to rest as less than 48 hours after the end of 2024, a new season has begun with Joan Mir and Luca Marini straight to work.
The whirlwind continued as the seasons change from 2024 to 2025 and the Repsol Honda Team returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first day of the new year. A cool morning gave way to almost perfect conditions, the sun just beginning to set at 16:30 Local Time and allowing the likes of Joan Mir and Luca Marini to run through their full testing programs. Together they completed more than 100 laps, more vital data for the engineering staff to decipher during the coming months.
Setting a best time of 1’40.070 on his 60th of 67 laps, Joan Mir ended the day in 15th overall. Focusing on a handful of key items in the one-day test, Mir was able to assess crucial changes ahead of a winter full of development for Honda HRC’s engineers back in Japan. The season is not yet over as Mir and Marini will head to Jerez for a private test in the coming days, the #36 hopeful of even more developments to try.
It was a busy day for Luca Marini who officially starts his second year as a factory Honda HRC rider. Marini suffered a rare fall early in the day, coming off at Turn 5. He was unharmed and quickly returned to the Repsol Honda Team garage before heading back out on track. Finishing the day in 18th thanks to a best time of 1’40.232, the Italian completed a total of 57 laps aboard the Honda RC213V.
Joan Mir
“As a rider, always you want to try more things and go faster. We did what we had to do today and confirmed a few things that we had tried before, I hope it clears up the direction for Honda HRC engineers over the winter. There is still more speed to find and I hope that we can work well over the winter to be able to start next year very well. The important thing is to work as much as possible as early as possible to continue the progress we made during this year.”
Luca Marini
“We had a good test today with quite a few things to try, a busy day. Some positive things, but still some weaknesses to keep on improving during the winter. There are still a lot of settings we have to try on the bike because some of the changes are really big that we have been making. Future tests will help us to confirm exactly what we have tried here. Now we must work hard to be prepared for the start of the new season.”
Barcelona Test
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1'38.803 |
| 2 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.396 |
| 3 | Bagnaia Francesco | 63 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.595 |
| 4 | Marquez Marc | 93 | SPA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.651 |
| 5 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 0.668 |
| 6 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.705 |
| 7 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.762 |
| 8 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.765 |
| 9 | Acosta Pedro | 37 | SPA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.768 |
| 10 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.813 |
| 11 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1.056 |
| 12 | Vinales Maverick | 25 | SPA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 1.084 |
| 13 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1.192 |
| 14 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | HRC Test Team | Honda | 1.204 |
| 15 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1.267 |
| 16 | Bastianini Enea | 23 | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | 1.279 |
| 17 | Oliveira Miguel | 88 | POR | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 1.335 |
| 18 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 1.429 |
| 19 | Pirro Michele | 51 | ITA | Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 1.683 |
| 20 | Aldegeur Fermin | 54 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 1.761 |
| 21 | Ogura Ai | 79 | JPN | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia | 2.143 |
| 22 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha | 2.222 |
| 23 | Chantra Somkiat | 35 | THA | LCR Honda | Honda | 2.492 |
| 24 | Savadori Lorenzo | 32 | ITA | Aprilia Racing Test Team | Aprilia | 8.793 |
Location Information
In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep… read more.
| Length | 4.627 kilometres / 2.875 miles |
| Width | 12 metres |
| Left corners | 5 |
| Right corners | 8 |
| Longest straight | 1.047 kilometres / 0.651 miles |
| Constructed | 1991 |
| Modified | 2018 |
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Montmeló, Catalunya, Spain - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m38.190s (170.7km/h) Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia, 2024) |
| Race Lap | 1m39.664 (168.2km/h) Pedro Acosta (KTM, 2024) |
| Race Time | 40'11.726 (166.8km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati,2024) |
| 2024 Sprint Winners | Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) / Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
| 2024 Race Winners | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) / Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) |
