Balaton Park Circuit
Honda HRC Castrol hunt positives in Hungary
A second visit to the tight and technical Balaton Park offers Honda HRC Castrol another chance to show off the constantly improving Honda RC213V and build on their strong base from 2025.
The MotoGP World Championship’s first visit to the Hungary GP at Balaton Park in 2025 produced one of the strongest weekends of the season for Honda HRC Castrol, both Luca Marini and Joan Mir entering Q2 directly from Friday and chasing the podium in the Sprint and Sunday’s Grand Prix. At just a hair over 4 kilometres long, Balaton Park is characterised by hard braking, heavy acceleration and a number of technical chicanes.
Luca Marini took fourth and fifth in Hungary last year, the Italian launching his first serious podium challenge as a factory Honda HRC rider. The Italian arrives with a quiet confidence after a consistent start to the season, now ready to turn up the intensity and take the fight to the regular podium contenders. Currently sitting on the cusp of the top ten in the World Championship standings, Marini needs to again conquer Friday afternoon to properly position himself for the Sprint and Grand Prix in Hungary.
Like his teammate, 2025 saw Joan Mir consistently threatening the podium regulars in Hungary and with his Barcelona performance still buoying him, the #36 has the potential to be at the front once again. A calmer approach to the Italian GP weekend saw Mir avoid any unnecessary risks, collecting important data from Sunday’s race which will help his team to better adjust the Honda RC213V for the demands of Hungary.
Action commences at 10:45 Local Time on Friday, June 05 with Free Practice 1.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Last year we had a really good weekend in Hungary, we were able to be competitive from the start of the weekend. Of course, our objective is to replicate this and improve on last year, I think it’s possible because we have improved everything since last year. We had some things which didn’t go our way in Mugello but I think myself and the team showed how we are working, how we are able to overcome challenges, and I hope that arriving to a stronger circuit like Hungary can help us to show our potential.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“We have some potential going into this weekend at Balaton, it’s a track which last year suited the Honda quite well and we were able to put together a competitive weekend as a whole. The important thing this weekend is to achieve our maximum without pushing over the limit, collect the data and stay fit and healthy. At a tight circuit like this, Qualifying will be really important because it can be hard to fight your way through otherwise. I’m looking forward to it.”