Joan Mir feels Honda’s double points finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was “real” and representative of where it should be in MotoGP at the moment.
Despite tangling with Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez on the opening lap and dropping to last place, Mir was able to mount an impressive fightback to take 11th at the chequered flag and equal Honda’s best result of 2024.
The Spaniard’s run was complemented by his HRC team-mate Luca Marini finishing 12th, while Johann Zarco also finished inside the points on his LCR-run RC213V.
Mir said what Honda achieved on MotoGP’s second visit to Misano wasn’t a fluke, especially since both he and Marini missed the opening race at the Italian venue due to illness.
“In the race I was better, I had a good pace,” he explained. “The difference between Saturday and Sunday is that we improved the vibrations a little bit. That was the big change.
“I’m happy because it was a real result, it’s not the typical 12th place because it rained and a lot of people came in to change bikes.
“At the beginning of the season, as a real result, I could have finished 12th [Portugal and Jerez] or 13th [Qatar], but 11th place this Sunday is a real result and we have to be happy.
“I overtook a lot of guys with a better package than our one.
“It is also true that some riders crashed in front. Just a couple of crashes in front as usual, but not a lot.
“I'm happy, I see some improvement on the bike during this weekend.”
However, Mir doesn’t want to get his hopes up after Misano, as he isn’t convinced that Honda has made a breakthrough in MotoGP yet.
“Till we don't show it on track, I will not see any light [at the end of the tunnel],” he said.
“A lot of times I thought that they would bring something to move on from this situation and then when they didn't bring it I was very disappointed. I don't want to be disappointed again.
“I just stay, I give my 100%, I do my job and I go home.”
Explaining what was still lacking on the RC213V that has made Honda the worst-performing manufacturer in MotoGP, he added: “We have a lack of acceleration compared to the others and a lack of grip.
“It's a bit of our character at the moment. But they have to be happy with it.
“In the last race I finished one minute behind [actually 50s] and it looked like it was super difficult.
“And in this race I finished 30s from the first one. That is [still] a lot but we made 27 laps. And in the first laps I lost six seconds.
“So it means that it is almost not one second per lap [of time loss]. That is actually not bad.”
Additional reporting by Gerald Dirnbeck and German Garcia Casanova
