MotoGP: Repsol Honda British GP Sprint Race Report

Close battles were the order of the day for the Repsol Honda Team as racing returned with the MotoGP Sprint, Luca Marini taking 15th and Joan Mir right behind in 16th as the pair duked it out.

Confidence and speed continued to build for Luca Marini on Saturday at Silverstone as he transformed 19th on the grid to 15th in the Sprint, challenging his teammate and Johann Zarco once again throughout. Edging out Mir by 0.6s at the line, Marini completed another step forward in his adaption to the Honda. The Italian is feeling more and more confident in the time attack, able to compete with the times of Quartararo but still looking for more over race pace.

Joan Mir remained focused on making the most of his current package as he eyes future upgrades in the coming races. Overnight improvements to the setting of his Honda RC213V saw a significant gain in lap time, going over half a second quicker during Q1 compared to Friday. A fastest time of 1’59.468 saw the #36 start 20th before battling up to 16th after the 10-lap race.

Sunday will see a truly historic moment in MotoGP history as the Repsol Honda Team RC213V lines up in the same colours as the 1983 Honda NS500 of Freddie Spencer to celebrate the championship’s 75th anniversary. Both Marini and Mir are out to do the livery proud and battle for points as in previous races.

The 20-lap British Grand Prix will start at 13:00 Local Time.

Luca Marini
15th
“We had a positive day. My Qualifying was quite good, I could have gone a bit faster in the last sector but happy to see our performance is growing. Each race we’ve made a little step, but there’s still work to do – especially on our race pace. To be consistent for the whole race is something we need to look at, I feel Zarco has an advantage here compared to us so there is room to improve. Looking forward to tomorrow and wearing the special colours again, it will be a real treat!”

Joan Mir
16th
“A tricky race where we avoided doing any mistakes. I was able to stay with the other Honda riders and understand the differences we have between us. We’re staying positive and looking for the future, tomorrow we will looking for some small changes again to maximise our performance. Of course we will get one upgrade already for Sunday, the incredible livery from 1983!”