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Honda’s Focus on Motivation Amidst MotoGP Struggles

As Honda navigates a challenging period in MotoGP, there is hope that lead rider Joan Mir will sustain his motivation until the manufacturer can offer a more competitive machine. The 2024 season has been particularly tough for Honda, culminating in a disappointing finish at the bottom of the championship standings with merely 75 points accrued.

Mir’s performance on the factory RC213V reflects this struggle; he secured only 21 points throughout the season, ending in 21st place, just ahead of teammate Luca Marini. Notably, both Mir and Marini were outperformed by LCR team members Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami, further impacting the reputation of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC).

Team principal Alberto Puig acknowledged the burdens placed on Mir, a reigning world champion, due to the current scenario. He emphasized the importance of maintaining Mir’s drive to excel in the sport, saying, “Joan is already a world champion in MotoGP, so the current situation is not so comfortable for him.” Puig noted the challenges Mir faces, including crashes and the pressure to achieve results.

“The bike is not at the level. He is trying, he has had some crashes, obviously. When you are a champion, you are pushing, you want to have the result, but still things could not match,” Puig added. He expressed optimism that Mir would keep his motivation alive, even during difficult times.

Reflecting on the development of the bike, Puig noted that Honda began to identify a more discerning path forward after a series of trials in the first half of the 2024 season. Positive signs of improvement were evidenced from the second round in Misano, where Zarco managed to achieve two top-10 results during the Asia flyaway races.

Despite recognizing the crew’s progress, Puig admitted that the overall outcomes remain unsatisfactory. He stated, “It’s not been easy, clearly. The results are not what we want. But it’s been a year that… in the first part of the season we were trying many, many things and solutions, and in the second part of the year we more or less had an idea of what can work or not.”

He continued, “We made some improvements, not as much as we would have liked, and we are in constant research of how to prepare next year’s machine. Still we didn’t make the result we are looking for. But from our engineering point of view, the engineers are understanding more and more how to proceed, where to go, and how we have to do, which is important. But this probably takes time to see the results, the reality on the paper.”

Puig reaffirmed Honda’s commitment to returning to a competitive stance, declaring, “The only thing we never lost was our will to come back. This is the will that drives you to keep on going, even though we are clearly behind, and this is a fact.”

Looking Ahead for Honda and Mir

Source
www.autosport.com