Joan Mir practice P1 showed “we can fight for something serious”

Joan Mir’s performance during final practice for the Catalan MotoGP showed “we can fight for something serious. Something more than the top five.”

The HRC rider not only topped the morning session but edged out Alex Marquez - who went on to lead the afternoon Sprint race - while using the same compound tyres, of the same age.

Mir and Marquez began FP2 on nearly-new soft rears and used medium fronts. 

Both set their best lap time, which put Mir 0.022s ahead of the Gresini rider, after the rears had done a total of 8 laps and their fronts 12/13 laps. The Sprint distance was 12 laps.

“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 reflected on Saturday evening.

Sadly for the former world champion, his FP2 potential counted for little when he struggled to 17th in Qualifying 1. Then came news of a three-place grid penalty for Sunday, after obstructing Jorge Martin in Q1, followed by a forgettable 13th-place finish in the Sprint.

“We saw some shining moments today, but honestly, I am not happy with our performance,” Mir confessed.

“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.”

Team-mate Luca Marini battled LCR’s Johann Zarco for seventh and top Honda honours in the Sprint, a fight the Frenchman won 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.”

Michelin recommends that riders move to the medium rear for he 24-lap MotoGP race.