Monza [Italy], A day of positivity and complications for the Repsol Honda Team, with Luca Marini and Joan Mir both aiming for solutions and progress on Sunday.
Equaling his best grid position of the year, Joan Mir achieved his target of 1'45 to finish 17th on the grid. With a boost of motivation, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion prepared to attack for an 11-lap sprint. After starting well, Mir soon suffered a worsening vibration problem which forced him to retire early from the sprint. The Repsol Honda Team is currently investigating the reasons to return to the track stronger on Sunday.Overall, Mir felt that the aerodynamic upgrades marked a step forward.
With a strong start from the line, Luca Marini made a handful of saves early on. After several laps a mistake at Turn 1 caused him to lose contact with the group he was fighting with before rallying to return to his race pace. Focusing on his own ride, the #10 finished his home race in 19th and collected important data after major setup changes to his Honda RC213V just before the sprint. Further work to refine the settings of his Repsol Honda Team machine is the primary focus for Marini and his team throughout the night.Both riders will return to the grid on Sunday, June 02 at 14:00 local time as they prepare for the Gran Premio d'Italia. The 23-laps around the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello will be demanding of rider and machine, with both Marini and Mir ready for the challenge.
"Today it was really good to race in front of my home fans for the first time as a factory rider. Unfortunately, it was a complicated day and we made some big changes to the bike after qualifying and before the sprint. This change helped I believe, but we have to keep working on the settings to find a better bike for Sunday," said Honda rider Luca Marini (19th)."Looking at the positives today we can see that this new aero package is working better. It's a small step which is welcome. We have qualified very well, giving our best performance from Qatar, and taking first place We wanted to keep everything together in the sprint, but we had some tremors that kept me from riding because they were getting worse and worse. We had to retire from the race. Investigating what exactly caused it so we can show our full potential tomorrow," said Honda rider Joan Mir (DNF).
Equaling his best grid position of the year, Joan Mir achieved his target of 1'45 to finish 17th on the grid. With a boost of motivation, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion prepared to attack for an 11-lap sprint. After starting well, Mir soon suffered a worsening vibration problem which forced him to retire early from the sprint. The Repsol Honda Team is currently investigating the reasons to return to the track stronger on Sunday.Overall, Mir felt that the aerodynamic upgrades marked a step forward.
With a strong start from the line, Luca Marini made a handful of saves early on. After several laps a mistake at Turn 1 caused him to lose contact with the group he was fighting with before rallying to return to his race pace. Focusing on his own ride, the #10 finished his home race in 19th and collected important data after major setup changes to his Honda RC213V just before the sprint. Further work to refine the settings of his Repsol Honda Team machine is the primary focus for Marini and his team throughout the night.Both riders will return to the grid on Sunday, June 02 at 14:00 local time as they prepare for the Gran Premio d'Italia. The 23-laps around the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello will be demanding of rider and machine, with both Marini and Mir ready for the challenge.
"Today it was really good to race in front of my home fans for the first time as a factory rider. Unfortunately, it was a complicated day and we made some big changes to the bike after qualifying and before the sprint. This change helped I believe, but we have to keep working on the settings to find a better bike for Sunday," said Honda rider Luca Marini (19th)."Looking at the positives today we can see that this new aero package is working better. It's a small step which is welcome. We have qualified very well, giving our best performance from Qatar, and taking first place We wanted to keep everything together in the sprint, but we had some tremors that kept me from riding because they were getting worse and worse. We had to retire from the race. Investigating what exactly caused it so we can show our full potential tomorrow," said Honda rider Joan Mir (DNF).
