Marini Praises Mir’s Remarkable Progress Amidst Honda’s Struggles at French MotoGP

Luca Marini: "Joan Mir has significantly improved, showcasing an impressive performance"

Luca Marini: "In my view, Joan has the ability to significantly advance throughout a race weekend, and today, he demonstrated a remarkable performance."

Despite being the sole Repsol Honda competitor to complete Sunday's French MotoGP at Le Mans, finishing at the bottom, Luca Marini was nonetheless taken aback by the speed displayed by his teammate Joan Mir.

Mir started from the 18th position and did not finish due to a crash in Saturday's Le Mans Sprint, however, he showed a significant increase in speed during the Grand Prix.

While the remaining three Hondas recorded the slowest laps of the race, Mir achieved the 14th fastest time, closely matching Alex Marquez's performance on his Gresini Ducati, before suffering a crash and exiting the race from 15th position halfway through.

"What stands out from today's experience is the sensation I experienced riding the bike," Mir commented. "Following the challenges with grip we encountered yesterday, it was remarkable to advance further with the bike's setup and achieve a strong rhythm in the race."

"I managed to validate my emotions and I'd like to express my gratitude to the Repsol Honda Team for their efforts today, as they equipped me with a motorcycle that allowed me to be aggressive.

"Maintaining an optimistic outlook is key, emphasizing our demonstrated speed and ongoing efforts. Next, we head to Mugello for a private test to examine several aspects."

Marini swiftly acknowledged Mir's success on Sunday and recognized the need to emulate the past MotoGP champion’s progress throughout a race weekend.

"Once again, we found ourselves in an extended race, focusing on the persistent issues we're encountering," Marini remarked, highlighting difficulties with turning and acceleration on the RC213V.

"What baffles me is how I begin the weekend on Friday maintaining a consistent speed through to Sunday. Meanwhile, Joan manages to significantly improve throughout the race weekend and, in my view, performed exceptionally well today."

"I'm slightly overlooking this phase, so it's essential to grasp that. I'm eagerly anticipating the Mugello [private] test. I'm confident we'll discover something useful there to apply in Barcelona."

Marini has not yet earned any points riding for Honda, while Mir leads as the highest-scoring Honda rider, sitting in 18th place with a total of twelve points.

Honda racers are scheduled for a single day of track time at Mugello, prior to moving on to the Catalunya event slated for May 24-26.

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