Alex Marquez Tops Post-Season Test as Marc Marquez Joins Factory…
Alex Marquez tops MotoGP's Barcelona test, while Marc Marquez shines in his Ducati debut. Honda rookies and new team signings…
Joan Mir expressed frustration with Honda following MotoGP’s post-season test in Barcelona, openly criticizing the Japanese manufacturer for failing to deliver significant updates to the RC213V. The Spaniard revealed that the parts he tested in Barcelona had already been trialed before during earlier races or private tests.
“The reality is that I didn’t have a lot of things to test,” Mir admitted. “I had already tested everything before, so that’s what happened today. You expect more from a test as important as this one, the one at the end of the season. There is not much more.”
Mir, who ended the day 15th on the timesheets and over 1.2 seconds off Alex Marquez’s pace-setting time, was visibly disappointed of the lack of meaningful upgrades. “How can I not be angry? There are times allotted for things to arrive, but here they haven’t arrived, for A or B,” he said.
Honda struggled throughout 2024, finishing last in the manufacturers’ championship. After seeing slight improvement over the last few weeks of the season, the Barcelona test was seen as a big opportunity for the Japanese manufacturer to start kickstart their 2025 campaign.
Mir lamented a missed opportunity to move the project forward. “If we don’t have anything for this test, I don’t know what to expect for next week’s test. We are still in the same situation as we were, far away,” he added.
“It’s not a good time to take stock,” he admitted. “I’ve done 70 laps with things I’ve tested at least twice. Little things have been coming in during the year because work has been going on, and the timing has been delayed maybe because of all that, but we expected more. Things are not happening, you have to believe it because you have to be here for two more years.”
With Honda’s best performance of the day coming from Johann Zarco, who was still 0.813 seconds adrift of Alex Marquez, the team’s uphill climb for 2025 remains steep.
