Chang International Circuit (Thailand), 1 March 2025: A solid Saturday for both Joan Mir and Luca Marini aboard the Honda RC213V, the pair continuing to keep pace and challenge inside the top ten
Mir would leave the Sprint with his first point of the year while Marini has clear objectives for Sunday.
The Thai GP continued at speed as the first racing laps of the 2025 MotoGP World Championship were completed and pending questions began to be answered. For Honda HRC Castrol, it was a day of working and more steady progress for Joan Mir and Luca Marini as they battled the intense heat of Buriram. Although there is room for improvement, the first Saturday of the season was a positive one and helped to cement the progress made by Honda HRC engineers during the off-season.
With passage to Q2 secured on Friday, Mir started Saturday focusing on last minute adjustments before the 15-minute Qualifying session. A crash at Turn 3 with two minutes left of Q2 ended the session early for Mir, who was unharmed in the fall. Despite limited time, the #36 was able to secure 11th on the grid – his best Qualifying result since 2023. This was followed by a spirited recovery in the Sprint after a moment at the start for Marco Bezzecchi forced Mir to take avoiding action. Steadily picking his way through the field, the #36 took ninth at the chequered flag to earn a single point from the first Sprint of the year.
Luca Marini produced another respectable day on the Honda HRC Castrol machine, making progress throughout Saturday. Tight times again ruled Q1, Marini setting a 1’29.532 for sixth in the session – six tenths faster than his Q1 time from the 2024 Thai GP despite the increase in temperature. From here 16th on the grid, the Italian made a very strong start to battle with the top ten early on. Settling into his rhythm to battle through the hot conditions, Marini crossed the line in 15th. Given the heat and other circumstances, it all ended as a satisfactory day for the #10.
Now all attentions turn to the 26-lap Thai Grand Prix on Sunday. With ambient temperatures expected to continue rising, it will be an even more demanding affair for the riders. An intense evening of work now awaits to find the final tenths ahead of the first race of the year.
Commenting on the day’s sprint, Joan Mir said, “It was a hard Sprint today, we had some drama at the start with Bezzecchi, he spun, and I had to close the throttle to avoid him. After that I had one of my comebacks, working hard to make up places and in the end, I was able to finish with the group I have been with more or less all weekend – Fabio, Binder, Acosta etc. The heat has a big impact and limited us in several ways. There’s work to do to improve everything, but as a first Sprint of the season I think we have to be happy.”
While Luca Marini stated, “A tough race for everyone in this temperature, the heat was more intense than in the race last year and the test so we all had to manage our riding. For tomorrow we will work on improving how we perform in these conditions. We know what we need to do and we have to be satisfied with what we’ve done – also this morning. We have made a step and we need to keep going on like this.”