Racing for Valencia – Repsol Honda Team prepare for Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona
Circuit de Barcelona-CatalunyaAfter the devastation caused by Storm Dana, the MotoGP World Championship have come together to reschedule the final event of the year in Barcelona to race for those impacted by the storm.
The 2024 MotoGP World Championship season will come to an end at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after being moved from Valencia. On track, the weekend will follow its usual cadence, but off track the MotoGP paddock is set to come together to help raise funds and support the people of Valencia who have been hit by recent tragedies. The thoughts of co-workers, friends and families will be on the minds of everyone throughout the entire weekend.
Joan Mir arrives back from a bruising run of fly away races where, although a lot was learned and progress made, results were hard to come by. As in Sepang, a return to Barcelona will offer another chance to assess changes and developments made to the Honda RC213V throughout the year. Characterized by low grip, the Barcelona circuit will also be an opportunity to work on improving the traction for the Honda for Mir. The 2020 World Champion finished 15th on his first visit to Barcelona this year.
Aiming to end his season on a high, Luca Marini will be looking to make it five point-scoring races in a row in Barcelona. Taking 17th on his first visit to the track back in May, there is good room for improvement and for the #10 to highlight the progress made during the season. Marini enters the final round of the season seven points behind his teammate in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship standings.
Stefan Bradl will also line up on a fifth Honda RC213V with the Honda HRC Test Team for his final wildcard of 2024.
Location: Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya
In 1989, through the joint collaboration of the Catalan Autonomous Government, the Montmeló Town Council and the Royal Automobile Club of Catalunya (RACC), work began on giving one of Europe’s most beautiful cities a state of the art race track to match. The Circuit de Catalunya opened on the doorstep of Barcelona in September 1991 and welcomed its first international event that same month, hosting the Spanish F1 Grand Prix. It went on to host the European Motorcycle Grand Prix and in 1995 became home to the Gran Premio de Catalunya. Before the start of the 2018 MotoGP season, the circuit underwent a full track resurfacing while key changes were made to increase safety standards. The new developments have seen an extended run-off area at turn 13 of the MotoGP layout which required demolition of two sections of a grandstand with another relocated. The run-off area was filled with gravel and from the braking point it now provide an extra 20 metres of run-off space. The track changes have altered the circuit layout by 28 metres (from 4.655 to 4.627 km) with turn 10 using the smaller F1 corner at La Caixa which was already used in 2016 and 2017.
It will be an emotional weekend, thinking of everyone in Valencia and throughout Spain who has been impacted by Storm Dana. I think that it is good that we are able to do something for them, to put the efforts of a Grand Prix weekend towards helping those who need it. As for the weekend from the sporting side, for us it is about doing the final checks before 2025. We had the race in Barcelona earlier and we have also had some tests, so there is a lot of information to check before we see what Tuesday holds for us.
It will be an emotional weekend, thinking of everyone in Valencia and throughout Spain who has been impacted by Storm Dana. I think that it is good that we are able to do something for them, to put the efforts of a Grand Prix weekend towards helping those who need it. As for the weekend from the sporting side, for us it is about doing the final checks before 2025. We had the race in Barcelona earlier and we have also had some tests, so there is a lot of information to check before we see what Tuesday holds for us.
Of course the main point of this weekend is to do what we can to help those affected by what has happened recently in Spain. With the development of the Honda and myself, revisiting circuits from earlier in the year is helpful to clearly compare the situation. Barcelona is a track where normally you don't have a lot of grip, so for us this is interesting to keep working to improve in one of the areas we have not been so strong in. Like always, we need to see how the weekend unfolds because the conditions will be quite different from May.
Of course the main point of this weekend is to do what we can to help those affected by what has happened recently in Spain. With the development of the Honda and myself, revisiting circuits from earlier in the year is helpful to clearly compare the situation. Barcelona is a track where normally you don't have a lot of grip, so for us this is interesting to keep working to improve in one of the areas we have not been so strong in. Like always, we need to see how the weekend unfolds because the conditions will be quite different from May.