Sepang International Circuit
Motivated Marini turns weekend around for seventh place as Mir’s Malaysian GP ends early
Brutal conditions pushed the riders and their machines to the limit in the 20-lap Malaysian GP, Luca Marini overcoming his physical limitations to earn a solid seventh place.
As ambient temperature pushed towards 40°C from early in the day, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Sunday in Sepang would be a demanding affair. Ten short minutes of Warm Up allowed the Honda HRC Castrol team to implement their final changes before the main event of the weekend. A tenth place for Joan Mir and 15th for Luca Marini had the pair confident of again fighting for the top ten, even in the demanding conditions.
Having been left drained of his energy after Saturday’s Sprint, Luca Marini entered Sunday unsure if he would be able to complete the full Grand Prix. Another incredible first lap thrust him into top ten contention and extra motivation provided by memories of the last three years with the Honda factory team spurred him on. Keeping Zarco as an early benchmark, Marini was able to open up a significant gap over the chasing pack and with others fading, the #10 kept his focus and held Di Giannantonio at bay until the end to secure seventh place and nine points. A welcome return to the top ten after complicated weekends in Indonesia and Australia.
He leaves Malaysia 39-points clear of Diogo Moreira in the battle for top Honda in the World Championship standings.
Joan Mir was able to make a much more aggressive start to Sunday and went side-by-side with his Honda HRC Castrol teammate through the first sector. As strong as ever, Mir battled with the likes of Marini, Moreira and Binder for the first eight laps. Unfortunately, his race would end soon after as he returned to the pits due to a change in his physical condition.
There are now only a few days until the Qatar Grand Prix, the Honda HRC Castrol team traveling directly to Doha to begin preparations for Round 20 of the 2026 MotoGP World Championship.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Today has been really good when we look at the whole weekend, yesterday after the Sprint I honestly did not know if I would be able to finish this race. I have to say a big thank you to everyone in my crew because they gave me a lot of motivation before the race, thinking about the three years we have spent together – I wanted to give them something to celebrate and match the effort they always show me. Today was a day to remember, even if it is just for seventh place, we did an amazing race in a tough situation. I knew that the first lap would be the most critical, so I went as hard as I could and I found myself with Zarco and kept him as a point of motivation throughout. Now I’ll head back to Italy before Qatar to continue to improve my condition as much as possible.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“Coming into this weekend we knew that there would be some challenges and had already agreed that if I started to feel different, I would stop. On lap nine I started to not feel at my 100% and decided to stop to avoid making anything worse. We need to double check everything now and understand our situation because the weekend until Sunday has been really good – even better than we were expecting. It’s a big shame and of course I am frustrated, but I remain focused to work with the team to understand and overcome this situation.”
