Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Home hero Mir makes the cut despite crash in Catalunya
A scintillating day of MotoGP action as just over a quarter of a second split the top ten, Joan Mir managing a solid sixth while Luca Marini was left hunting rear grip in the cool conditions.
Straight from Le Mans, the Honda HRC Castrol team resumed their work at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with Joan Mir and Luca Marini beginning adaption of their Honda RC213V machines to the new circuit. Uncharacteristically cool conditions had the entire grid on tenterhooks, a number of riders falling over the course of the day as the grid battled for vitals tenths of a second.
16th in Free Practice 1, Joan Mir and his crew worked diligently over the lunch break to find improvements as a single second split the top 19. This gap would get even closer in the afternoon as 0.269s would divide the top ten, Mir putting in a respectable 1’38.846 to jump to fourth in the final minutes of the session. Crashing as his last run of the day began, the #36 escaped injury and remained inside the all-important top ten. 0.136s from first, Mir moves into Q2 with the eighth fastest time.
The cooler conditions proved to be a more complicated day for Luca Marini who struggled to find the final tenths in the afternoon. Just half a second behind his teammate, Marini ended the day down in 18th spot in the tightest Friday of the season. It will be another hard Q1 battle for the Italian who remains adamant on finding improvements with his team.
Saturday begins with Free Practice 2 at 10:10 Local Time before Q1 and Q2 follow in quick succession at 10:50 Local Time and 11:15 Local Time respectively.
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“We knew it would be a tough day with the forecast; Catalunya is a circuit where we usually struggle to find the grip and the conditions make it harder for everyone. With the new tyre I could dig deep and make a good lap, but our overall pace still needs some work. On my second time attack, with the cold tyre in the out lap I crashed. There wasn’t a lot of time left so we had to try it. The positive is that despite this we go to Q2, we need to bring this confidence into tomorrow and earn the best grid position possible.”
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Difficult conditions for everyone today, and with how close it was today you really had to line everything up. You had to work a lot to get the tyres in the correct window, if you’re not strong in entry you lose through the rest of the corner. Hopefully tomorrow the weather improves and we can gain something on entry because we also need to work on the rear grip, as with every year here. We keep trying.”
