Silverstone Circuit
Brighter end to British GP for ninth placed Marini
A fourth straight Sunday top ten extended Luca Marini’s lead in the battle for top-Honda honours while Joan Mir again fell afoul of contact on the first lap.
The 2026 MotoGP World Championship season has well and truly gotten back underway after a spectacular Sunday in Silverstone. A classic British summer’s day made for perfect racing conditions, the Honda HRC Castrol team using morning Warm Up to make their final adjustments after overnight analysis and work by HRC’s engineers. With the Honda RC213V saving its tyres well, both factory riders were confident of what the Grand Prix might hold after Saturday's Sprint preview.
It would be another classic Luca Marini performance as the #10 fought through the field over the course of the race. A less-than-ideal start gave the Italian extra work to do and time spent trying to pass Morbidelli saw him lose further time to those ahead. Despite this, Marini’s pace was superior and he quickly found himself inside the top ten. Pushing until the very end to catch Brad Binder, the early work to recover meant that Marini crossed the line in ninth and leaves the British GP with seven more points in his account. Tenth in the standings, the Italian remains ten points clear of Aldeguer in 11th and 32 points ahead of Diogo Moreira, the next closest Honda, in 15th overall.
Joan Mir was again disserted by lady luck as contact on the first lap saw him fall at Turn 7. Unharmed but disappointed, Mir was unable to repeat his Saturday performance through no fault of his own.
The MotoGP World Championship will be on track again for the Grand Prix of Aragon, August 28 – 30. Now, a final brief respite before the demanding run of ‘flyaway’ races.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“The race was about as good as we could have expected with where we started. I didn’t make my best start, and I spent a long time trying to get past Morbidelli, giving us more work to do. It’s a very familiar story and highlights why we need to focus on improving our qualifying. I am really satisfied with how I am riding and I feel like I am improving my overtaking and able to make up ground quicker, this is a positive. Satisfied to again be the top Honda, this is what our target should be each weekend. Thanks to the guys on my side for their work this weekend, again Sunday was our best day of the weekend.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“Honestly speaking, I don’t really know what happened. I had an impact from the back and then I fell, it was just a racing incident, so the rider involved is not important. My start was OK and I was aiming to stay calm with the medium tyre. Bad luck and a shame not to be able to see what we could do over the course of the long race. Next up is Aragon, a circuit I like a lot so let’s focus on making something good happen.”
