All action for the Honda HRC Castrol squad as the Spanish GP began with an intense Friday, Joan Mir securing a spot in the top ten despite a fall as Luca Marini targets Saturday improvements.
There wasn’t a wasted moment as the Grand Prix of Spain began at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto, the entire MotoGP field bustling for position on track and in the standings. Ideal weather conditions set the stage for a productive day and with less than a second splitting the top 15, it proved to be a hard fought one as well. Joan Mir and Luca Marini made their presence felt throughout, lining everything up for another weekend battling towards the front.
A best time of 1’36.686 in the afternoon saw Joan Mir return to the combined top ten on Friday, his Qatar difficulties now behind him. Yellow flags and a late fall prevented him from going faster, but his early work was enough. The #36 is feeling confident having achieved his Friday goal and earned a spot in Q2, returning to the form he showed at the start of the season. Now a strong performance in Qualifying on Saturday will be vital to put him and his Honda RC213V in the best possible position to battle in the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
For Luca Marini, Friday proved to be a more challenging day as the Italian found himself in 18th just over three tenths from the top ten. Working to improve with every exit, Marini felt he just missed out on delivering on his and the bike’s potential in the dying moments of the afternoon session but he and the team already have a clear plan for Saturday.
Now the pair will work overnight with Honda HRC Castrol before what is set to be an incredible Spanish GP Saturday begins. After Free Practice 2, action kicks off with Q1 at 10:50 Local Time to set the grid for both the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Joan Mir
10th 1’36.686
“The feeling today was really good, and I think that tenth doesn’t reflect our potential. We were strong in both sessions, at the top with race pace, then when you put the new tyres with yellow flags – anything and everything can happen! It was hard to find the clear track and with the soft tyre you don’t get a lot of chances. But even like this, our lap was not bad, and we have to be happy with what we’ve done. Today being tenth and being first achieves the same, now we prepare for Q2 because if we qualify well then we can be with the group closer to the front.”
Luca Marini
18th 1’37.077
“Friday has been a bit of tricky day for us. In the morning, we didn’t have the best feeling and had to work on the setup and some electronics, but we were able to improve for the afternoon. Our feeling got better as the day went on, we just needed one more exit and I think we could have been there. In Qatar we showed that we are able to keep on improving, so now it’s time to work with the team overnight and attack on Saturday.”
