Paris [France], May 12 : An early fall for Joan Mir left Luca Marini as the lone Repsol Honda Team rider for the majority of the Sprint, the Italian staying focused and continuing to build for Sunday's race.
Starting the day with practice and Q1, the Repsol Honda Team immediately picked up where they left off and continued hunting improvements. A step forward for Joan Mir saw him earn 18th on the grid, just behind Alex Marquez while Luca Marini earned 21st as he worked on closing the gap to his teammate. The pair had their sights set on forward progress as they lined up on the grid for Saturday afternoon's Sprint.
A determined Luca Marini took positives from another completed Sprint race, more laps and more data taking him and the Repsol Honda Team another step closer to improvements. Finishing in 18th, the Italian quickly overcame his teammate as the race began and diligently went about his race. With the information gained, Marini and his team are planning one final adjustment in Sunday morning Warm Up.
Joan Mir's race would come to an early finish as he fell without injury at Turn 8 on Lap 4. He returned to the garage and retired from the race. Confident of pinpointing the issue that caused his fall and also his slow start to the race, Mir is aiming to bounce back on Sunday and is targeting points and top Honda honours.
The Repsol Honda Team now turn their attention to Sunday's French Grand Prix, 27 laps of the Le Mans circuit scheduled to start at 14:00 Local Time. Forecasts are beginning to darken and the unpredictability of a flag-to-flag could open endless possibilities.
"There are always positives to take from every lap you make. We got more data and learned a few things to improve for Sunday. It's clear what we are missing with the current package that we have, so we keep on working until something comes to change that. For tomorrow we will try to do another small change with the bike to improve the front feeling. I am confident Honda will bring the things that we need soon," said Honda rider Luca Marini.
"From the start we could feel that there wasn't something right with the rear and we were lacking a lot of grip. We need to check everything well to understand the problem and improve it tomorrow. It's a shame because it meant our race was over before it began and I fell because of this problem. A shame because I think we could have been fighting up with Zarco to be close him and even the top ten. This is the target for tomorrow because I am confident we can find a solution," said Honda rider Joan Mir.
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