Honda HRC Castrol are back – Austrian GP restarts the year
Red Bull Ring - SpielbergThe three-week summer break has come and gone, Luca Marini and Joan Mir returning eager to attack the second half of the season. A unique challenge in the Red Bull Ring presents as a first chance to blow the cobwebs away.
Spielberg will host the MotoGP's much anticipated return and kickstart an intense end to the year with five sets of back-to-back races seeing out 2025. At just 4.35 kilometres long with 11 corners, the Austrian track is one of the simplest on paper, but the heavy braking and hard acceleration makes it a complicated circuit to master. The unique layout has produced some titanic clashes in the past and after three weeks without action, no doubt the MotoGP grid will be fired up.
Luca Marini arrives looking to match his results from earlier in the year and close the distance to the top ten in the World Championship standings. The Italian remains the only rider on the grid to have scored points in every Grand Prix he has entered in the 2025 season. Plenty of speed for the #10 to show in Austria after more time to recover and rebuild his fitness during the break.
For Joan Mir on the other side of the Honda HRC Castrol garage has the potential to show his top-ten speed once again. Able to consistently challenge the front two rows in Brno before misfortune hit, Mir and the Honda RC213V are due a solid result. Second in Spielberg in 2020 and 2021, the stop and go nature has suited the #36 well in the past.
From Austria it will be a straight dash to the new Hungarian GP at Balaton Park, which appears to be a tight and technical track.
Location: Red Bull Ring – Spielberg
The Red Bull Ring in Spielberg is located beautifully in the Murtal-region of Styria, Austria. The circuit was originally built in 1969, then known as the Österreichring. In 1996 it was rebuilt with the track-layout it still had when, in 2011, it was reopened as the Red Bull Ring and again became the centre of Austrian motorsports. The sloping terrain and the natural arena are trademark features of the Red Bull Ring with the 18-metre-high landmark “Bull of Spielberg" in the centre and the voestalpine wing offering a spectacular architectural highlight. With a length of 4.318 km it features 10 turns and an altitude difference of 65 metres. In 2016 MotoGP™ racing returned to Austria for the first time since 1997 and further adjustments have been made to the Red Bull Ring layout following a private test held earlier in the summer. FIM Safety Officer Franco Uncini discussed the layout with some riders of the Safety Commission and it was agreed to reduce the width of Turn 10 of the circuit from 13 to 10 metres – to lower the speed when exiting the corner and improve the safety of the turn.
I have had a good three weeks recovering more and more and I am feeling really good, we can approach the rest of the season without limitations. Austria is a really particular circuit, all about heavy braking and accelerating and it will be a good chance to see where everyone stands after the break with upgrades and everything. Looking forward to seeing the team again and continuing to push the Honda RC213V forward with the engineers.
I have had a good three weeks recovering more and more and I am feeling really good, we can approach the rest of the season without limitations. Austria is a really particular circuit, all about heavy braking and accelerating and it will be a good chance to see where everyone stands after the break with upgrades and everything. Looking forward to seeing the team again and continuing to push the Honda RC213V forward with the engineers.
The break has been good to recharge, focus on training and reset a little bit after some tough moments in the start of the year. Now we start an intense push right through to the end of the season, it's important to be well prepared for it. In 2024 we made a good step in the second part of the season, so I hope that we can repeat that again as a team. We have a lot of information and now it's time to put everything on track and show our potential because aside from some unfortunate moments before the break, we were showing our potential.
The break has been good to recharge, focus on training and reset a little bit after some tough moments in the start of the year. Now we start an intense push right through to the end of the season, it's important to be well prepared for it. In 2024 we made a good step in the second part of the season, so I hope that we can repeat that again as a team. We have a lot of information and now it's time to put everything on track and show our potential because aside from some unfortunate moments before the break, we were showing our potential.