Portimao speed “positive” but “confirming” more important for Joan Mir

Although he was “pleased” with his performance on Friday at the Portuguese MotoGP, Joan Mir found more significance in the consistency of his performance.

For most of his Honda career, Mir has struggled to be in the top-10, but during the Asian races he was able to stand on the podium twice after progress made by Honda during the 2025 season and especially after the summer break.

Now, in Portugal, he has been able to end Friday in the top-five, and again seems capable of contending for important positions at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

“It was a positive day overall,” Joan Mir told MotoGP.com.

“I feel quite comfortable with the bike, we solved some problems during the day because this track is a special one so you have to adjust well the electronics side and I think we are a bit on it. 

“I think for tomorrow we have a bit of margin to work a bit on the details, that is where you make the difference. Pleased, I’m happy, I’m able to ride the bike in a good way. So, good.”

It was put to Mir that the Portimao layout is one he has been strong at in the past – finishing second there in 2021, and battling for the podium in 2022 before being taken out by Jack Miller at turn one – but, while he agreed, the Spanish rider pointed out that, that his speed on Friday in Portugal is not a one-off – amid his recent MotoGP form – is the more important fact.

“It’s one track that probably suits my style and probably also Honda style – more than Sepang, I would say,” he said.

“But, anyway, the most important thing is that you feel comfortable in all the circuits, not just in one, and I think we are confirming that. So, that is very positive from our side.”

Marini: “Not our best day”

While Mir excelled in Portugal, his Honda HRC Castrol teammate, Luca Marini, had a more testing day.

A crash at the beginning of Practice at turn 13 compromised his afternoon, then he found himself without the speed to make it into the top-10 in the time attacks at the end.

“Not our best day,” Marini admitted. “My mistake with the crash and some bad luck.”

Explaining the crash, he said: “I was a bit wide and the temperature of the tyre dropped, it’s easy to happen here with the conditions we had. 

“It’s a pity because we lost time, we couldn’t use that bike, but I stayed focused to push hard because you could see the weather coming in. 

“For tomorrow we need to improve the braking in turn one and five, some fine tuning to increase my speed. 

“Today we also tried a couple of new things to help out the engineers which is always good, we’ve made a lot of progress this year but we still have more to make.”