Joan Mir “leaving Honda”, linked with surprise Gresini seat for MotoGP 2027

Former MotoGP champion Joan Mir “will not be a Honda rider in 2027” and is being linked with a surprise move to Gresini Ducati.

With HRC rumoured to be running an all-new factory line-up of Fabio Quartararo and David Alonso next season, Joan Mir was tipped to re-join Davide Brivio - his Suzuki team boss - at Trackhouse Aprilia.

However, while Brivio is all but confirmed as leaving Trackhouse, potentially for a senior role at HRC, The-Race.com reports that Mir will be heading to Gresini.

Such a move could reunite Mir with his 2020 Suzuki title-winning crew chief Frankie Carchedi, who has gone on to win races with Fabio di Giannantonio, Marc Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer at Gresini.

Aldeguer is set to switch across to VR46, Ducati’s official satellite team, for the new 850cc era.

“Joan will not be a Honda rider in 2027”

Mir’s manager, Paco Sanchez, told Crash.net on Friday: “Given the lack of news from HRC regarding his future, Joan decided in Jerez to leave Honda at the end of the year and asked me to look for a good project for him.

“We are making good progress, but we haven’t finalised any deal yet. We hope to do so as soon as possible, but for now, I can’t confirm anything else. 

"The only thing that is certain is that Joan will not be a Honda rider in 2027.”

Mir joined the factory Honda team after Suzuki’s 2022 MotoGP exit, riding alongside Marc Marquez and then Luca Marini.

After two miserable seasons, the 28-year-old claimed his first Honda podiums - and the factory's team first of the post-Marquez era - at Motegi and Sepang last year.

Mir has endured another incident-packed start to 2026, but also underlined his raw speed with performances such as fifth on the grid at COTA.

The Spaniard then crashed on the last lap of the Sprint while trying to catch Pedro Acosta for the final rostrum place. Acosta later received a post-race tyre pressure penalty.

Mir then secured sixth in last weekend’s Le Mans Sprint before crashing from the same position in the grand prix, which would have been Honda’s best GP result of the season so far.

Gresini is expected to lose both its current riders, with Alex Marquez due to join the factory KTM team.

Moto2 star Dani Holgado is expected to take over one of the Desmosedici seats, with former Gresini rider Enea Bastianini previously in talks for the other. 

However, Bastianini has emerged as the next-best KTM behind Pedro Acosta, increasing his chances of remaining at Tech3, which must also decide between KTM and Honda machinery.