Positives abound for Mir and Marini as MotoGP pre-season ends

Temperatures rose and lap times dropped on the final day of testing in Thailand, Joan Mir put in a spectacular afternoon to seal sixth overall with Luca Marini in 14th as the pair collected the final pieces of the 2025 puzzle.

The MotoGP pre-season officially came to a close at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand as the second day of testing and an intense period ended with the setting of the sun. A midday pause would be the only break in action before 15:00 Local Time when both Honda HRC Castrol riders headed out on track for final long runs before the season begins. Matching the conditions of the race, Marini and Mir sought to better understand what could be awaiting them on March 02 when the lights go out at the Thai GP.

Joan Mir was able to improve his best time from Wednesday by 0.7s to end the test in sixth overall with a quickest lap of 1’29.399. This concludes a very positive pre-season for the double World Champion who has been able to continually put himself and the Honda RC213V inside the top ten in a number of conditions. Especially impressive was his final afternoon in Buriram, able to consistently lap in the 1’30s during a long run and put in a headline-grabbing second place finish in the final session. Mir leaves the two tests motivated and focused on the first race, determined to continue progressing and show Honda’s development.

Wrapping up his second pre-season in the factory HRC outfit, Luca Marini leaves Buriram with a best time of 1’29.783 and 14th place overall. Thursday saw the #10 continue to work on the setup of his machine, assessing a number of options and potential changes for the impending race weekend. This concludes a busy pair of tests for the Italian who got through an immense testing program with his team to define the base of the Honda RC213V for the first races of the new year. Marini feels that the conditions during testing obscured the overall picture of where teams are and is ready for the empirical truth of a race weekend.

The Honda HRC Castrol team will now head back to base for a few final adjustments before the season begins with the Thai GP, February 28 to March 02. What will follow is set to be the longest and most intense MotoGP World Championship campaign to date as Thailand leads to Argentina, America and Qatar before landing in Europe for the majority of the season.