Silverstone Circuit
Mir straight to Q2 as season restarts in Silverstone
The British summer continued in full swing as the roar of MotoGP returned to the world after the long break between races, Joan Mir showing his top ten pace with just a few tenths separating Luca Marini.
A positive day for the Honda HRC Castrol team as the British GP and the second half of the 2027 began. Joan Mir and Luca Marini immediately picked up where they left off in Germany, the duo sitting just outside the top ten as their work resumed on Friday morning.
Joan Mir would improve his lap time in the afternoon by over two and a half seconds to end Friday in eighth position overall. His 1’57.111 put him 0.831s shy of Bezzecchi who led the field on the opening day. A tenth under the lap record from the previous year, Mir and the Honda RC213V demonstrated there is still plenty of speed to find in the closing races of the 1,000cc era. Having already secured a place in Q2 will guarantee a spot on the first four rows, Mir targeting the top six if everything can come together in the 15-minute session.
A best time of 1’57.605 saw Luca Marini end the day as the 12th fastest rider, again narrowly missing out on a spot in Q2. He will be joined by several big names in Q1 on Saturday and with just three tenths splitting 11th to 18th, it’s all to play for on Saturday. As was the case today, timing and track position will be critical in the qualifying battle to come.
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“A similar feeling to Brno, the grip here is quite high from the track and it helps us a lot. I am happy with today because we did a great job and I really felt like I was able to put everything together and achieve something close to the maximum. Our objective is of course to continue in this line, I think the guys in front of us have something a bit more but we can keep fighting here. Heading to Q2 is great because Q1 looks a really interesting session, I will enjoy watching! We are under the lap record of last year which really shows the improvements we have made in Honda, but also how hard everyone else is working even in the last year of the 1,000cc bikes.”
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“The goal tomorrow is to get into Q2, I think the top five are very fast but after that we are all very close and if we can start further forward there is a lot of opportunity. I would have liked to be faster today, of course. We have improved our bike compared to last season and even the start of this year but of course everyone else is also working hard and making progress. I tried to do my best in the time attack but there was a yellow flag and with this long track, you lose performance on the soft rear on the second lap. For the long race, everyone will need to be careful with the tyre choice especially if it gets any hotter.”
