Honda MotoGP riders finally seeing progress at Emilia Romagna GP: “The first time I could really push”

11th and 12th for the Repsol Honda Team is not going to go down in the team’s history books as one of its best results, but there was reason for optimism within the factory HRC squad despite once again missing the top 10.

The optimism comes from upgrades brought to the second Misano race — Emilia-Romagna coming two weeks after the San Marino Grand Prix — following the test at the circuit a couple of weeks earlier.

“A really good race, the first time I could really push and really ride and enjoy being on the bike,” said Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir following last Sunday’s Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

Mir ended up 11th in the race, despite falling to the back at the start.

“I made a good start but then Raul [Fernandez] was quite optimistic into the opening corners, so I went wide and dropped down to last,” he said.

“Then I got my head down and started to overtake, especially in the second half of the race I was really pleased with my performance. Not just the overtaking, but also the lap times which were the same as those guys in the top ten.

“11th is a good result from where we are coming from and it’s really good to see improvements over the weekend. I have to also say thank you to my team for their work this weekend, my first in Misano, they did a good job to improve the feeling overnight. It’s encouraging and gives us all a boost as we head to Asia.”

Luca Marini, Joan Mir’s Repsol Honda teammate, also enjoyed a positive weekend at Misano, the Italian seeing benefits from recent upgrades brought by Honda to the RC213V and taking a season-best finish in 12th place.

“I am really happy with this weekend,” Marini said. “I fully enjoyed it and there are a lot of positives to take away from it. We have found a good package with the upgrades the Japanese have made; all of the engineers have been making a good effort and now we are starting to see it in the results.

“The first three laps with the rear are quite complicated still, we need to work on this because even starting in 15th, we are missing something in the first laps and it stops us fighting with the others.

“The new aero has helped a lot, but we have also improved a lot of other small areas in the last few outings. We can head to Indonesia with optimism to continue in this way. Thank you to everyone in the team who has been working hard and staying focused all year.”

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco was able to score a single point in 15th despite a series of setbacks in his race.

“I had a better race than I could expect,” Zarco told MotoGP.com. “I was feeling quite strong at the beginning of the race which is pretty good, and I did some good manoeuvres which makes me happy.

“But then I could not overtake Jack Miller — he was struggling, and I’ve lost time. Then [Joan] Mir came back, and I did a mistake behind him.

“So, two mistakes: not overtaking Jack, and almost hitting Joan Mir. So, I’ve lost a lot of time and I’ve tried to come back as well as possible.

“I’m happy that I caught a point, which is important when you finish a weekend, at least you can bring something home.

“Honda did some progress and that’s positive before leaving for overseas races, where I hope, with the experience and enjoying the tracks, I can be close to the top 10.”