RiderTua.com – Joan Mir’s second season with Repsol Honda is unlikely to be better than his first season. In 2023, the 26 year old rider suddenly openly discussed retiring just a few months after leaving Suzuki. In his first season at Honda, Mir was asked to be the ‘king of crash’ and his best result was P12 at Portimao. Much different from 2020 when the Spanish rider became MotoGP world champion with Suzuki.
His future and possible futures outside MotoGP were still up for debate at Jerez last week. “It’s difficult. Mir got to a point like Marc Marquez did at Honda, where he lost motivation. Would it be better to go and do something else?” said Sylvain Guintoli.
Joan Mir Must Try a Ducati or KTM Bike
Sylvain Guintoli explained that in such a situation, this was a difficult thing for Honda. They have to manage the performance and make the bike better. They also have to manage the riders and their motivation. They have to maintain the motivation of their friends. These riders are still the best in the world, they could go into another series and get some wins, they might be tempted to do something else.
“Because it’s depressing. There are more than 20 races but basically, we only race and test all year round. If our bike is not competitive, it’s difficult to maintain motivation,” added Guintolli.
Neil Hodgson added, “He’s not old. I know Joan, he’s obsessive. If he were his manager, he would definitely try to take him to Ducati or KTM.”
If Mir does leave Honda, he would not be the first rider to leave the gold wing manufacturer in recent years.
“Look at the Marquez brothers. Happy faces. Everyone in the garage is laughing. They have ten times less money, but they can have fun and try to win the race,” added Guintolli.
Mir finished P9 in the sprint (largely due to the number of riders crashing in front of him) then P12 in the main race at Jerez last weekend. His teammate Luca Marini fared much worse on his debut with the Honda Rc213V, since leaving his brother Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team.
Overall, Honda is in the last position in MotoGP and they continue to see that even Yamaha, which is actually a fellow Japanese manufacturer, manages to surpass them.
Joan Mir is entering the final year of his contract at Honda so he could be targeted to go to another team. But after 2 seasons of poor results, marred by his subpar engine, perhaps he will find something to prove when his rivals jockey for the best seats on the 2025 grid.
