Circuit Of The Americas
Marini accomplishes Friday mission, 0.032s denies Mir
The Circuit of the Americas was a wild ride for many with crashes a plenty, Luca Marini expertly handling the situation to challenge the top five while fractions of a second were the difference for Joan Mir.
An enthusiastic Friday crowd welcomed Honda HRC Castrol to the 5.51-kilometre-long Circuit of the Americas as the third round of the 2026 MotoGP World Championship began in earnest. Some of the hottest conditions ever experienced at COTA added an extra element of challenge, but both Luca Marini and Joan Mir took it in their stride as they made their presence known inside the top ten throughout Friday.
Arriving in America, Luca Marini and his side of the Honda HRC Castrol garage were determined to return to Q2 and put themselves in a better position for both races. Enter Q2 is exactly what the #10 did, sitting comfortably inside the top five until the very final moments of the afternoon session. Ninth on the timesheets, Marini pushed for a final flying lap but found himself sideways at Turn 18. Expertly saving the situation, a best time of 02:01.494 guarantees him a spot on the front four rows of the grid.
Friday was a day of experimentation for Joan Mir as he and his team worked closely to understand and overcome their limitations from the Brazil GP just last week. What Mir missed in his outright speed, he made up for in knowledge gained and is confident of challenging his teammate for top Honda honours on Saturday and Sunday. Even with the experimental work, Mir was able to challenge the top ten through both sessions and ended the day in 11th – just 0.032s shy of the final Q2 spot.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“From the very first exit, the bike has been working well, and I was confident of being in the top ten today. It’s great to be in Q2 directly, this was the goal for today because it is something we have missed so far this season. We had the speed for more but a big moment on the last lap at Turn 18 ended my lap, fortunately we stayed on because we were completely sideways in one moment. Now that we have achieved our first target, there are more things we must do, and we need to make another step overnight because in Qualifying people find more speed. The track condition is fantastic overall and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“A little bit of a complicated day, a bit more than we were expecting. After Brazil the team worked a lot to make the tyre work in a better way. We changed a lot of things on the bike in the morning, and I didn’t have the best feeling, so we found a compromise for the afternoon and went from there. It wasn’t ideal, but we needed to try to understand our direction and now for tomorrow everything is clearer. Even like this we were very close to the top ten which is a positive point to take away from today. Good information for tomorrow.”
