Factory Honda man Joan Mir says he is “sorry” he took team-mate Luca Marini out of the Saturday sprint in Valencia. But the accident has put Honda’s seemingly simple quest to escape Group D concessions in danger, with no room for error in Sunday’s Valencian Grand Prix – in which Mir will have to serve a long lap penalty.
Honda came into the weekend with what looked like a straightforward task ahead of it in terms of moving up to Group C concessions. All it had to do across the Valencia weekend was take nine points, albeit with only its leading bike in each race counting towards the total.
