Positive Mir and Marini conclude three days in Sepang
Sepang International CircuitAn intense period of work comes to a close for the Repsol Honda Team as preparations for the season intensify, Joan Mir and Luca Marini both able to make improvements with each day.
Work started early and at a high intensity as the outright lap record around the 5.5km circuit was broken early on. After a flurry of fast laps, the MotoGP grid settled into their working rhythm to capitalise on the stable conditions as the three-day test wrapped up.
Joan Mir completed a positive set of tests in Malaysia, riding for a total of five days as he enters his second year as a Repsol Honda Team rider. Both tests allowed Mir to understand and adapt to not only the new 2024 Honda RC213V, but also the new team around him. Ending the first day with a best time of 1’58.741 and improving to a 1’57.374 on the final day is evidence of the continual progress Mir and the Repsol Honda Team have made. Mir suffered a small fall without consequence at the final corner before midday, returning to the box without incident. He ends the three days in tenth on the combined times.
Completing a total of 122 laps over the three official days of running in Malaysia, Luca Marini was able to make good use of the time available. Ending with a fastest time of 1’58.026 saw the Italian in 19th overall and pleased with what he and the team had managed to improve. Spending the day working on refining the setup to best suit his style, Marini continued to gain speed and further build his confidence. Aware there is still work to do to unlock more of the bike’s potential, the #10 is already preparing for the Qatar Test.
Ahead of the final test of the pre-season in Qatar, the Repsol Honda Team will head to Madrid to reveal their 2024 livery on February 13. The launch marks 30 years of collaboration between Honda HRC and Repsol, the partnership earning 15 World Championships and 130 race wins so far.
I think Honda should be proud of what they have done here during the test because we have made good progress. Today was my best ever lap around Sepang, so it was a clear step and ending as the top Honda is a positive point. There’s still some work to do to close the distance further, but there is time to keep working. I had a small crash at the last corner when I was going for another run which maybe stopped us from improving the time more. But this can happen. Now we get ready to show our new colours in Madrid and then prepare for Qatar.
There are many positive things about this period of testing, especially these last three days with all the other riders to understand our potential. Joan made a very good lap in the time attack, he knows the bike well and I need to keep working to understand it as well as him but it's positive to see the potential. There’s margin here to improve and with the setting, which was our focus today. The direction we are going is correct, we just need more time on the bike to keep on going and improving. We’ll be busy now to prepare for the Qatar Test and the race but I am looking forward to getting back on track. I am very excited to wear the official colours for the first time at the team launch!
