Joan Mir slams ‘unproductive’ Honda MotoGP test: ‘We expected much more’
2020 world champion underwhelmed by lack of updates at Barcelona test
Joan Mir says Tuesday at the Barcelona MotoGP test “wasn’t a productive day” for him or Honda as “everything we tried, we have tried before”.
Honda concluded its worst season in MotoGP last weekend at the Solidarity Grand Prix, in which it was last in the constructors’ championship with just 75 points.
While it has used its status as a concession manufacturer to make progress with its RC213V, particularly n the latter part of the campaign with the introduction of a new aero package that improved turning, it is still far from being a podium contender.
In the official test after the San Marino GP, Honda brought new items, including the aero, which led to its boost in form.
But in this week’s Barcelona test, in which Mir was 15th after 67 laps, he was left disheartened by what he felt was a lack of new items.
“Not very happy. It wasn’t a productive day,” he said.
“Everything we tried we have tried before. We didn’t have any new upgrades that allowed us to be faster.
“We were working with our standard package and with a package in the past that wasn’t working.
“So, you can imagine the day was not the day I expected. I just hope that next week in Jerez we will receive more upgrades.”
When asked by Crash.net if he felt Honda was working hard enough, he replied: “This is what I thought, but the reality is that we expected much more.”
Mir says that Honda told him the reason he had no new items to try was because of “the timings; they didn’t make it”.
The 2020 world champion also noted that the post-season test is one of the “important points” of the year that Honda has now missed to introduce a new bike.
“Normally, the important points during the year, the Misano test is one, we received some aerodynamics which were working, a different engine configuration,” he said.
“And Valencia, or in this case Barcelona, the last test of the season is always super important.
“It was in the past where you could see two bikes in Honda, in the manufacturers, you normally see another new bike. We didn’t get it. I hope that we get it soon.”
