Joan Mir ‘not happy’ with ‘desperate’ Argentina MotoGP race
Honda rider Mir held back by bike’s lack of power in Argentina GP
Factory Honda MotoGP rider Joan Mir says his 2025 Argentina Grand Prix was “desperate” because of the RC213V’s lack of power.
Honda continued its strong form from pre-season testing and the Thai GP at Termas de Rio Hondo last weekend, with Johann Zarco giving the brand its first qualifying top three result since Mugello 2023.
Zarco was fourth in the sprint and sixth in the grand prix, while Honda got two riders inside the top 10 on merit in the main race (Luca Marini was later promoted to 10th after Ai Ogura was disqualified).
Joan Mir couldn’t match the pace of Zarco throughout the weekend, however, qualifying 10th and finishing eighth and ninth in both races.
He was narrowly beaten by KTM’s Pedro Acosta, with Mir admitting that the Honda’s lack of power pushed him into overheating his front tyre as he tried to recoup his top speed deficit under braking and hindered his hopes of coming through the field.
“For sure I’m seeing some steps,” he said.
“I mean, the race was desperate because I fought all the race with the KTMs, with bikes with faster engines than our one.
“To defend our position I had to attack a lot on the brakes.
“I overheated the front and honestly it was a big, big challenge to finish this race.
“But we cannot say that I’m happy, because I’m not. I think that our bike here had more potential but I could not defend from the others.
“Every time I was arriving onto the straight the rider that I had behind overtook me and then I could not attack on the brakes, which is actually my strong point, due to this thing - for the pressure, because I overheated the front.
“So, we need to understand what we can do to improve in these situations.
“But I can see how this year I’m able to fight and this is something good, but as a rider I always want more.”
Honda now sits second in the constructors’ standings for the first time since the 2023 Americas GP, when it last won a grand prix.
The Japanese brand has also enjoyed back-to-back weekends of points hauls of 10 or greater, which it hasn’t done since the Indonesian and Japanese GPs in 2023.
At no point in 2024 did Honda ever score more than nine points throughout an entire weekend.
