Luca Marini took his best Grand Prix finish of the season before being hit with a post-race penalty, demoting him out of the points. Repsol Honda Team teammate Joan Mir is forced to retire early.
Proudly wearing the stunning livery inspired by Freddie Spencer’s 1983 NS500, the Repsol Honda Team stood out from the crowd as the MotoGP World Championship celebrated 75 years of racing at the British GP. A visit from the man himself, Freddie Spencer, and his compatriot, Randy Mamola, before the race further highlighted Honda’s unrivaled history in Grand Prix motorcycling.
Having been consistently towards the front of the Honda battle all weekend, Luca Marini continued to show his form with a lightning start – instantly jumping into the point scoring positions from 19th on the grid. Keeping Zarco at bay for most of the race, Marini would cross the line in 15th place as he went into management mode in the final stages of the 20-lap GP. Unfortunately, a 16 second post-race tyre pressure penalty dropped him out of the points.
There was nothing to choose between Joan Mir and his teammate throughout much of the race, overnight changes to the #36’s machine giving him his best sensations of the weekend. Working to conserve himself for the end of the race, Mir was plotting his next move when a warning light forced him into the pits and ended his British Grand Prix. The #36 was confident of scoring points and is ready to return to his start of the year form at the next round.
The MotoGP World Championship paddock and the Repsol Honda Team now travel to Austria for Round 11 of the 2024 season – the Motorrad Grand Prix von Oesterreich on August 16 to 18.
Luca Marini
17th
“It’s nice to be able to stay fighting to be the first Honda through all the weekend, this is a good step compared to where we have been. We are still very far from where we want to be, but I think we are getting more and more information on where and how to work. Today we struggled in the opening laps, but from the middle of the race we were quite competitive compared to the group.”
Joan Mir
DNF
“My feelings in the race were my best feelings of the whole weekend. We modified the setting a bit and it was the right choice. I was just behind Luca, controlling the rear tyre life and waiting for the best moment to make a move. Unfortunately, when Morbidelli went past I had a warning come up on the dash and I had to retire. Now we check the bike. It’s a shame because I think I could have scored points today.”
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