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Repsol Honda Team battle track conditions in Catalan Sprint

Spain, May 27, 2024: Hot temperatures left Joan Mir and Luca Marini hunting grip over the course of the Sprint race after gains in Qualifying.

Steps forward continued for Joan Mir on Saturday at the Gran Premi de Catalunya, the #36 improving his best lap time by 0.7s overnight. Setting a fastest lap in Q1 of 1’39.524 saw Mir start 21st on the grid. From here, Mir would steadily progress through the field over the course of the 12-lap Sprint to take 15th at the chequered flag. Although unable to battle for points in the Sprint, Mir was content with the information gathered for HRC’s engineers.

Repsol Honda Team rider Luca Marini at the SpanishGP

Luca Marini was able to keep pace with his Repsol Honda Team teammate throughout Saturday, qualifying less than a tenth of a second behind Mir. The pace matching continued into the Sprint as Marini stuck with his stablemate for the majority of the race and ended just over 3.5 seconds back. Pleased with the progress made in recent weeks, Marini is aiming to again stay with his teammate and hopeful of avoiding early race incidents.

Both Repsol Honda Team riders are confident of further improvements on Sunday and are aiming to finish the weekend on a positive before the trip to Mugello. The 24-lap Gran Premi de Catalunya will start at 14:00 Local Time and looks set to be another close fought affair.

Joan Mir (15th)

“It was an important Sprint race for the information to give to the engineers, so I am happy we were able to get some good data. We have made some progress in some areas and need to keep working in others and at this track it really shows. For Sunday I think there’s still some margin to improve tomorrow and try to fight for the points which will be our objective. Right now, it’s about the future.”

Luca Marini (16th)

“I was able to finish much closer to my teammate today which is a positive. We are working a lot on the bike to keep improving and I think we found something at the Mugello Test which is working here. It’s better to ride the bike but we can keep working to gain on the overall performance. There wasn’t a lot of grip on track today, the conditions were very tricky and I think you could see that in the race.”

Gran Premi de Catalunya – Sprint Result

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 ESPARGARO ALEIX 41 SPA 12 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 20:01.478
2 MARQUEZ MARC 93 SPA 9 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 0.892
3 ACOSTA PEDRO 31 SPA 7 Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 KTM 1.169
4 MARTIN JORGE 89 SPA 6 Pramac Racing Ducati 2.147
5 BASTIANINI ENEA 23 ITA 5 Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 2.980
6 DI GIANNANTONIO FABIO 49 ITA 4 Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Ducati 4.623
7 MILLER JACK 43 AUS 3 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 8.084
8 VINALES MAVERICK 12 SPA 2 Aprilia Racing Aprilia 8.245
9 BEZZECCHI MARCO 72 ITA 1 Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Ducati 8.643
10 QUARTARARO FABIO 20 FRA 0 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 9.241
11 MORBIDELLI FRANCO 21 ITA 0 Pramac Racing Ducati 9.537
12 RINS ALEX 42 SPA 0 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 13.045
13 NAKAGAMI TAKAAKI 30 JPN 0 LCR Honda Honda 13.199
14 MARQUEZ ALEX 73 SPA 0 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati 13.378
15 MIR JOAN 36 SPA 0 Repsol Honda Team Honda 16.438
16 MARINI LUCA 10 ITA 0 Repsol Honda Team Honda 18.000
17 FERNANDEZ AUGUSTO 37 SPA 0 Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 KTM 25.262
18 BRADL STEFAN 6 GER 0 HRC Test Team Honda 33.751
19 BAGNAIA FRANCESCO 1 ITA DNF Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati DNF
20 OLIVEIRA MIGUEL 88 POR DNF Trackhouse Racing Aprilia DNF
21 ZARCO JOHANN 5 FRA DNF LCR Honda Honda DNF
22 BINDER BRAD 33 RSA DNF Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM DNF
23 FERNANDEZ RAUL 25 SPA DNF Trackhouse Racing Aprilia DNF

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