Mobility Resort Motegi
Marini and Chantra build Friday foundations at home
A complicated start to the day in Motegi yielded positive endings for Luca Marini and Somkiat Chantra as the pair adapted their Honda RC213V machines to the needs of the Japanese track.
Fresh from revealing their special 60th anniversary livery on Thursday, the Honda HRC Castrol team got straight to work as the Japanese GP weekend began in earnest. With Somkiat Chantra coming in as a replacement for the recovering Joan Mir, there was plenty to learn even in the mixed morning conditions which unfortunately caught out wildcard Takaaki Nakagami and saw him suffer a broken left collarbone.
Luca Marini endured a tougher than expected day in Motegi with a crash at the start of the afternoon session requiring a change of plan. Although unharmed, the fall meant the #10 was unable to use his preferred setup until the very final minutes of Practice. Eventually able to set a best time of 1’43.688, Marini ended the day in 17th and only 0.3s from the top ten. Work to do overnight to overcome Friday’s difficulties but with an unpredictable weather forecast, there are still plenty of opportunities come Qualifying and the Sprint.
Somkiat Chantra made the most of a short-notice call-up. Focusing on maximising his time on track, the Thai rider led Free Practice 1 early on and ultimately ended in 14th in FP1 before finishing the day in 19th, a strong start for a rider stepping onto the RC213V at short notice. Already able to improve his 2025 Q1 time by 0.3s, the winner of the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix in Moto2 impressed many within the Honda HRC Castrol team with his calm and measured approach.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“A difficult first day, especially because of my mistake to crash at the start of the session in the afternoon because it compromised our entire day and also our Saturday now. When I put the tyres for the time attack, my feeling wasn’t as good as I had hoped because we had to work in a different way after that crash. Now it’s important to reset overnight and approach everything with a fresh outlook on Saturday because there is still time. We can see that the bike has some potential here with two riders in Q2, the objective is to join them. Thanks to all the fans here, already on Friday there was a lot of support from the Honda fans.”
Somkiat Chantra 15 Honda HRC Castrol
“This morning I remembered what MotoGP power is, it took some time to adapt so that’s why I just focused on riding as many laps as possible until the final moments of today. Step by step, I have to say a big thank you to the guys in the garage for helping me and preparing a really good bike – I was already able to be faster than last year even without riding MotoGP. I am enjoying a lot and I just want to keep improving and see what’s possible.”
