MotoGP Round 7: Repsol Honda Team asses new parts on Friday in Mugello

Round 7 on the 2024 MotoGP World Championship saw Joan Mir and Luca Marini start their weekend in testing mode for HRC.

Joan Mir would lead the Repsol Honda Team duo as action at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello commenced. Dark clouds would threaten for much of the day, but the rain would stay away for both of Friday’s sessions. A best time of 1’46.584 saw the #36 improve his morning lap time by close to 1.3 seconds as he took top Repsol Honda Team honours on Friday.

A positive start to his home GP saw Luca Marini finish the morning as top Honda in 19th before cutting another half a second off his lap time in the afternoon. Half a second back on his teammate, the Italian focused his Friday efforts on assessing a number of new pieces for the Honda RC213V, including a new aerodynamics package.

The upgrades offered even more potential for both riders, but more time is needed to adjust the setup of the Honda RC213V to capitalise on this potential. Making further improvements for Saturday and Sunday is the target, Mir and Marini ready to take a step in Qualifying and fight for more in the races.

Joan Mir
21ST 1’46.584
“We tried a new aerodynamic package today and it was positive, I’m happy with this evolution. It changes the behaviour of the bike a bit, so we need to keep working to improve the setup. Already I’m feeling better than last weekend so it’s a good starting point for the weekend. In the last two exits we were able to improve our feeling a lot, but I couldn’t put together a lap because of other riders and some small mistakes. I think our potential was a high 45, which would put us in a good position. I’m optimistic with the potential we have.”

Luca Marini
24TH 1’47.062
“Everything today was better than in the test, we’ve made a step again and the feeling is much better. Unfortunately, in practice it didn’t all go to plan, so we had to adapt and we missed out to take those final tenths in our one lap speed. There’s work to do with the setting because when you change something like the aero, many things also need adjusting. Overall, our feeling isn’t as dramatic as the time sheets show so I think we can be fighting with the other Honda riders tomorrow.”