Sunny Sunday brings Phillip Island points for Repsol Honda Team
Phillip IslandNear ideal conditions made for a memorable 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Luca Marini taking points yet again to cap off another weekend of improvements. Joan Mir avoids injury in a late fall.
Phillip Island was at its best as the MotoGP World Championship arrived on race day, the clouds parting and the sun burning through to set the scene for an incredible day of racing. After a quick 10-minute Warm Up where both Repsol Honda Team riders confirmed the final tweaks to their Honda RC213V machines, it was time to race.
Sunday would produce more points for Luca Marini as he raced through to 14th, recovering from being pushed wide on the opening lap. As on Saturday, the #10 spent the early laps warming the tyre and was able to lap consistently in the mid 1’28s throughout the second half of the race as he worked to close the distance to Rins. Making steady improvements with each round have allowed Marini to turn his early season fortunes around and now consistently challenge for top Honda honours.
Joan Mir endured another frustrating day as factors outside of his control compromised his race. Suffering from the start of the race, Mir did his best to stay with the likes of Aleix Espargaro and bring his Repsol Honda Team machine home. On the penultimate lap, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion went to pass Aleix Espargaro at Turn 4 but fell. Unharmed, Mir was unable to remount and retired from the race.
The next race is just around the corner, the Repsol Honda Team making the short jump up to Buriram, Thailand for Round 18.
I am satisfied with our weekend, quite happy. The race was incredible, the pace was unbelievable and when you are riding here with the sun like it was – it is just a pleasure. At the start it was a bit chaotic, I lost some positions when I got pushed wide and I needed to work very hard to warm the left side of the tyre – this meant we couldn’t fight in the start. When the rear was ready, I was able to be very competitive on the times, but the other riders were quite far. My feeling is improving every race and I’m very motivated for the next race already. When we look at the picture of the season, we have to be happy with where we have arrived to.
I am satisfied with our weekend, quite happy. The race was incredible, the pace was unbelievable and when you are riding here with the sun like it was – it is just a pleasure. At the start it was a bit chaotic, I lost some positions when I got pushed wide and I needed to work very hard to warm the left side of the tyre – this meant we couldn’t fight in the start. When the rear was ready, I was able to be very competitive on the times, but the other riders were quite far. My feeling is improving every race and I’m very motivated for the next race already. When we look at the picture of the season, we have to be happy with where we have arrived to.
Things out of our control limited our race today. We entered the weekend with a lot of confidence because I like this circuit a lot, but our feeling never improved. At the end of the race, I went to overtake Aleix Espargaro because I saw Nakagami was coming, but the rear was moving a lot and I fell. I am okay. We go to the next race and aim to do our best as always. It’s all we can do, keep working for the future.
Things out of our control limited our race today. We entered the weekend with a lot of confidence because I like this circuit a lot, but our feeling never improved. At the end of the race, I went to overtake Aleix Espargaro because I saw Nakagami was coming, but the rear was moving a lot and I fell. I am okay. We go to the next race and aim to do our best as always. It’s all we can do, keep working for the future.
