Joan Mir: Mandalika “important” after “special moment” in Motegi
Joan Mir called his Motegi podium a “special moment” but says Mandalika is “important” to show Honda can keep fighting at the front.
After breaking a near four-year MotoGP podium drought with his first Honda rostrum last Sunday in Japan, Joan Mir is eager to see the RCV’s potential this weekend in Mandalika.
While Mir has shown flashes of Honda form before - fifth in Indonesia 2023 and sixth at the Red Bull Ring this season - he wasn’t able to keep the momentum going.
“It's a special moment for us because step by step we are achieving a little bit our goals,” said Mir, the 2020 world champion for Suzuki who joined Honda at the start of 2023.
“It has been a very difficult and long journey without being successful. In the past races, from the middle of the season, I started to feel that I could have a bit the package to fight for good results, for results that are worth it.
“And for reasons that happened in the races, my mistakes, mistakes from the others, technical problems, we could not put a result together.
“Motegi was the right moment to start doing that. So, I feel that from Motegi we show that we can put the results together.
“This track is completely different as Motegi. So it will be important for us to understand if we can be as competitive as there.
“It's not my favourite track, I would say, but I think we can have a chance. Now the bike looks competitive and I'm looking forward.”
2024 saw Honda’s results hit rock bottom in the MotoGP era, with just two top ten finishes. But they have celebrated three podiums so far this season, including a wet-weather victory for Johann Zarco at Le Mans.
“I cannot say one specific point, just the base of the bike is much better in terms of aerodynamic, chassis, engine - everything works together. Before something was missing there,” Mir said.
“Now we understand a little bit more about the way that we have to go to make this package work. We changed swingarm, some configuration on the engine side, a couple of things that make this bike a lot more rideable.”
LCR's Zarco remains Honda’s top rider in the world championship, in tenth, with Mir’s team-mate Luca Marini in twelfth place.
Mir, who has finished less than half of the Sunday races this season - and suffered double DNF at Mandalika last year - has climbed to 15th in the standings.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
