Joan Mir admits “worry about the engine” as he outlines Honda “weak points”

Joan Mir has declared himself “happy” with Honda’s MotoGP progress after the final day of preseason testing in Thailand, although he remains concerned over some of the RC213V’s weaknesses.

Mir’s optimism began with his time attack on the final day, of which he did only one but still managed a time good enough for sixth-fastest.

“The lap time was not fantastic,” Mir said. “I couldn’t match everything together because we only put one tyre at the end, we didn’t make two time attacks like a lot of riders did.

“This makes me happy, because it means that we made the lap time but we have margin to do it.”

Joan Mir outlines Honda positives

The Spaniard said that he was most happy about how he felt on the bike and his pace over a longer run.

“For me, the most important thing today is the feeling that I have on the bike,” Mir said.

“The pace that we were able to do during the Sprint [simulation] is something that we are closer than ever since I’m with Honda, so [I] cannot really ask for more.”

He added: “It’s another story, the feeling that I have now and the feeling that I had last year. I hope we can continue with this, I hope that we don’t get lost in the middle of the evolution like happened last year in the middle of the year.

“So, I hope that we learn from our mistakes and also I want to congratulate my team because to make this step in this small period of time is something that is not easy.

“I’m very happy for them. These tests don’t mean anything, but mean a lot at the same time for the people that work there.

“It has been impressive to be close to the top five with this margin that a couple of months ago we were not able to fight even with some test riders.”

As he has pointed out on other occasions in this preseason, Mir balanced his optimism about the progress made so far with caution about the weak points the Honda still retains in 2025.

“We have a couple of weak points, the problem is that the weak points are pretty big, pretty weak,” he said.

“So, I’m worried about the engine. I’m worried because the bike works well – I’m able now to ride in a way that I like and I enjoy, I will not lie, but the thing is that on the straight we are the slowest.

“Today we were able to make a lap time to position ourselves quite high, and with a bike that probably in the straight I’m not able to compete with.

“So, in terms of racing, we already lost the battle, so that makes me a bit worried.”

Marini looking for “normal GP” verification

Mir’s Honda HRC Castrol teammate Luca Marini was similar in his cautious optimism to Mir. But, for the Italian, the concern was more over grip, as the good track conditions found in Buriram and the high grip caused by the consistent running over two consecutive days meant that the test – especially the second day – was still not perfectly representative of a normal race weekend.

“Today it was easy to make a 1:29,” Marini said after the final day of testing.

“In the GP we have to check, because the condition of the track today – and yesterday also – was incredible.

“It was hiding some problems that we have, for example like the grip, because when there is this kind of condition the grip is incredible, you can put more power in the bike exiting from the slow corners, and it’s easier to stop the bike.

“So, it [Thursday] was for sure a good day, but also [Wednesday[ was a good day, so overall the preseason was positive.

“We understand very well which is the package that we need to use in the first races, and we can be quite satisfied because we made a step forward compared to our performance here last year.

“But it’s a little bit too early to say it loud, because we need to check in a normal GP [what our position is].”