It was a tough weekend in the Indonesian GP for the Repsol Honda Team. After seeing Joan Mir and Luca Marini both fall, neither could show their full potential.
The troubles for Joan Mir came at the start of the race when he got caught at Turn 2, needing to run wide due to the falling riders ahead. He was then able to regroup and focus on catching up to Alex Rins. However, at Turn One on lap 13, he lost the front. Though uninjured in the incident, he didn’t hide his disappointment. Only twelve finished the race, further underlining that the incident hurt his chances.
The race of Luca Marini was over almost before it had begun. Off the line strongly, he was caught up in a first-lap multi-rider tangle at Turn Two. This immediately ruled him out of repeating the success of the previous weekend. Fortunately, he too emerged unscathed.
For redemption once again, the team now looks forward to the Japanese GP, at Motegi Circuit, their home race. For the riders, this will be the third successive race, and they hope that the luck may change for them.
Joan Mir raised his voice in frustration: “We can’t be happy with the weekend and all our bad luck. Two crashes from two starts are hard to accept. I could see that the bike’s performance has improved, but it’s frustrating that we couldn’t show that on the track. Having Zarco as a reference, for sure it’s clear that the upgrades Honda prepared went in a very good direction. We will sit down and find a way to keep improving. For sure, Motegi will be a more normal weekend for us.”
Luca Marini also commented on the race: “I couldn’t see what happened during my crash. There were three or four riders altogether. And we had some contact during the change of direction, which led to the fall. Impossible to avoid it; this can happen. I’m just sorry that the bike was damaged because I think that today there was the possibility of a good placement in this race. We were out of luck this weekend, but we have to look at our performance overall. And take a lesson from what Zarco did. Our bike becomes more competitive.”
With that in mind, the team heads to Motegi, looking to hopefully turn its fortune around. And build upon the momentum it has created.
ANI
