Mir battles to best Sprint result in solid Argentina Saturday

Termas de Río Hondo Circuit (Argentina), 16 March 2025: The positives kept coming for the Honda HRC Castrol team as Joan Mir converted a tenth place start to eighth in the Sprint, Luca Marini working to find the final tenths to join his teammate ahead

Saturday started with an already significant achievement for Joan Mir who passed from Q1 to Q2, making it two Q2 appearances in a row to start 2025. His appetite only temporarily satiated, the #36 would improve to qualify in tenth place – one better than at the Thai GP last time out. Mir would continue to extract more positives as a spirited ride, battling hard with the likes of Quartararo, Morbidelli and Acosta, saw him end the Sprint in eighth place. This is the 2020 MotoGP World Championship’s best finish since the Sprint Races were introduced in 2023. Progress comes from a steady march, Saturday in Argentina proving to be the next step in that journey for Mir and Honda HRC with more still to come.

Earning sixth in Q1, Luca Marini lined up for the MotoGP Sprint with work to do. Battling hard in the opening laps, the #10 was able to advance up the field and close in on the group of riders just ahead. But the Italian was left wanting more after taking 13th at the flag, unable to achieve his own targets set for Saturday in Argentina. Like his teammate, Sunday’s Warm Up presents a final chance to try setup options ahead of the Grand Prix.

A strong weekend for fellow Honda rider Johann Zarco who put the Honda RC213V on the front row of the grid, demonstrating the technical improvements made over the winter. He converted this into a fourth-place finish.

Now all attentions turn to the main event, Sunday’s 25-lap Gran Premio de Argentina. Scheduled to start at 15:00 Local Time, both Mir and Marini have shown the pace on longer runs to again battle further up the field. Rain threatened throughout Saturday, could it play a part come race day?

Commenting after the sprint, Joan Mir said, “Solid. Solid race. I think this was the best result we could have achieved today. I only had one tyre when we arrived in Q2, so we have to be happy with what we did there to get tenth. In the Sprint I was able to be competitive and overtake a lot of riders. I knew I had some more pace than them coming into the Sprint. There are still some points, especially on exit, that we can improve more. Already we have made progress inside this weekend but always you want more as a rider! I think that we can take even more from the longer race.”

While Luca Marini stated, “I made a good start to the race and was able to gain a little bit. It’s very tight in MotoGP so when you are further back, you need to do everything well from the first moment. Today was a bit less than we were expecting speaking honestly. Both in Qualifying and the race, I was hoping for more, but we are looking for grip in the rear. We need to check it overnight and find a solution for the Warm Up. The results of Mir and Zarco show the progress we are making.”

ARGENTINA GP – Race results:

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