Points salvaged from complicated Italian GP weekend by Mir
Autodromo Internazionale del MugelloJoan Mir's rise continued as he fought until the very end, once again charging through the field to contest the top ten with Takaaki Nakagami also battling for the final point scoring position down to the wire.
Making it three-point scoring finishes in a row, Joan Mir was able to take some positives from his most complicated weekend of the year. In front of a record breaking Mugello crowd, Mir shot forward to immediately gain ground on his rivals. As he did in the Sprint on Saturday, the #36 worked his way steadily forward and was into the points from the third lap. The majority of his race would see Mir chasing down the Yamahas of Rins and Quartararo, passing both with ease in the closing stages of the race. 11th at the chequered flag, the 2020 MotoGP World Champion was able to taste some reward for his efforts across the weekend.
Across the other side of the Honda HRC Castrol garage, Takaaki Nakagami also had a strong race just behind his teammate for the weekend. Running wide into Turn 1, the Japanese Test Rider was able to rally and a consistent series of lap saw him climb into the points by the middle of the race. A hard-charging Aldegeur would steal the final point from Nakagami at the end of the 23 laps, the #30 focusing on bringing his Honda RC213V home and delivering crucial data to the engineers. Able to match the performance of Mir throughout the majority of the weekend, Nakagami has put in a solid Grand Prix filling in for the recovering Luca Marini and returns to Japan with a wealth of new knowledge.
Honda remain second in the Constructor Championship; four points clear of KTM and six ahead of Aprilia.
The racing isn't over yet as teams and riders now head some 1,400km north to The Cathedral – Assen, Netherlands. Round 10 comes next weekend, June 27 to June 29, at the longest-standing circuit on the calendar, TT Circuit Assen having first hosted the MotoGP World Championship since its inception in 1949.
I'm happy that we were able to take the flag and take some points after a really difficult weekend. Doing anything more than what we achieved today, it would have been really hard and a big, big risk. We knew how tough it would be this weekend, so we made the most of it and tested a lot of different parts and setups for the RC213V. I think we were able to make use of our situation and get some good information for the engineers. The team did a great job to get us there. Now it's time to go straight to Assen and aim for something more.
I'm happy that we were able to take the flag and take some points after a really difficult weekend. Doing anything more than what we achieved today, it would have been really hard and a big, big risk. We knew how tough it would be this weekend, so we made the most of it and tested a lot of different parts and setups for the RC213V. I think we were able to make use of our situation and get some good information for the engineers. The team did a great job to get us there. Now it's time to go straight to Assen and aim for something more.
I was targeting to finish in the points, and I was feeling good with my race pace early on. I lost a bit of time in the first part of the race but was able to steadily move ahead and pass some guys. Later in the race we had quite a bit of vibrating in the rear so I had to manage that to make sure we could finish. When Fermin arrived at the end, I didn't have the pace to fight him that late, a shame to not get a point at least. I really enjoyed being with the factory team, a completely different approach inside and outside the garage and I was able to learn a lot. I think it will help with my main job in Japan to have even more information. Thanks to everyone in Honda HRC Castrol for this weekend.
I was targeting to finish in the points, and I was feeling good with my race pace early on. I lost a bit of time in the first part of the race but was able to steadily move ahead and pass some guys. Later in the race we had quite a bit of vibrating in the rear so I had to manage that to make sure we could finish. When Fermin arrived at the end, I didn't have the pace to fight him that late, a shame to not get a point at least. I really enjoyed being with the factory team, a completely different approach inside and outside the garage and I was able to learn a lot. I think it will help with my main job in Japan to have even more information. Thanks to everyone in Honda HRC Castrol for this weekend.
