Season best for Mir and Marini after Misano upgrades

The Repsol Honda Team head straight to Indonesia with a spring in their step after Joan Mir and Luca Marini put in a pair of commendable performances to seal 11th and 12th in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, finishing the best weekend of the year with their best race results.

Forward progress continued for the Repsol Honda Team at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli as more data from new upgrades to the Honda RC213V helped to propel Joan Mir and Luca Marini to their best weekend of the season. Having taken their best grid positions of the year so far, the pair converted it to a double point-scoring finish as the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend showed the first rewards from nine months of intense work throughout 2024 for HRC’s engineers.

Starting well when the lights went out on the 27-lap race, Joan Mir would almost immediately be sent to the back of the pack as another rider sent him wide. With buoyed confidence from overnight setup adjustments, Mir launched a strong comeback as he cut through the field and made his way to 11th. His lap times in the second half of the race were particularly impressive as the #36 mirrored the speed of those in the top ten. The result puts Mir back on track after taking only two points in seven rounds. A welcome boost in confidence, the double World Champion is determined to continue with this level of performance as the championship starts its stint in Asia.

Luca Marini delighted home fans with his performance on the way to 12th position – an impressive improvement on his previous best finish of 15th in Germany. Like his teammate, the early laps of the race limited the #10’s full potential as he worked to get his rear tyre into the optimal operating conditions. Once in the rhythm of the race, Marini joined Mir is scything through the field and enjoyed his best race of the season. Work and upgrades from the last races and tests have helped Marini and his side of the Repsol Honda Team to build a package they feel confident with, now aiming to work on refining the details and continuing their progress.

There’s little time to rest as the Indonesian Grand Prix starts on Friday, 27 September in Lombok, Indonesia. It will be a race across the world for riders, team members and the freight to hit the ground running at Round 15.