Circuit Of The Americas
Points keep coming for Marini in America
Luca Marini produced a metronomic performance, attacking until the end for a last-minute ninth place at the Circuit of the Americas. Meanwhile teammate Joan Mir fell while chasing the top five at Round Three.
Another unpredictable Sunday was waiting for the MotoGP World Championship as the riders rolled onto the grid, the sun shinning but a wind whipping up around them. All eyes were on the critical first corner as lights went out.
Starting in 11th place, Luca Marini had extra work to do and found himself sandwiched between a KTM and a Gresini machine into the tight first corner of COTA after struggling off the line compared to Saturday. From here the race was a series of intense battles and passes until the #10 arrived on the edge of the top ten, settling in behind Raul Fernandez as the pace of the grid leveled out.
Seeing a fast-fading Bagnaia just ahead of him, Marini kept his rhythm until the very end to steal ninth place from the double MotoGP World Champion. A pair of point scoring finishes at the US GP moves Marini to tenth in the World Championship standings, five points behind 2025 MotoGP runner-up Alex Marquez. He leads Johann Zarco by ten points in the fight for top Honda.
Joan Mir’s Sunday followed a similar script to Saturday, the #36 starting well and locking horns with almost every Ducati on the grid. A well-saved moment early in the race sent him wide through the opening sector and earned him a Long Lap Penalty as a result. He would crash from the top ten before serving the penalty, fortunately avoiding any injury. With three points, Mir holds 19th in the World Championship standings.
After three races away from home, the Honda HRC Castrol team will now return to Europe and prepare for the Spanish GP, April 24 – 26 in Jerez. Three weeks of rest, recovery and development to arrive in the best position possible to continue the fight.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Today was pretty straight forward, everything came from the start. I was already minus two positions, and I made a really bad start, which is very strange because the starts have been one of our strongest points on the Honda. It’s something we need to check because I lost some positions. The positive is I had some really nice battles further back as it was quite a chaotic race in the opening laps – it was fun, but when I arrived to Fernandez, the pace of everyone was very close. Today the wind changed direction, so it changed our braking points, I focused on hitting my marks and in the last lap I saw Bagnaia was not having an easy time. This race shows that the level of everyone has improved a lot and we still have work to do to break into that top eight.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“A disappointing way to finish a weekend that had a lot of promise. I was in a position yesterday and today to attack, recover a lot on entry and see what was possible. When I am alone I can ride well and fast, in the slipstream with these bikes you have to risk twice as much to make up time. Finally the front went, we need to improve the rear to gain something more on corner exit because this can happen when you are riding the front so hard. I like knowing I have a chance, this is good and we have improved a lot compared to when I first started with Honda and I know that we can keep working together to improve more and more.”
