Silverstone Circuit
Positive progress and Saturday points for Honda HRC Castrol duo in England
A Sprint full of fighting for the Honda HRC Castrol team with Joan Mir pushing until the very last metre to secure seventh and Luca Marini in the middle of an intense battle for the top ten.
Old lap records continued to tumble as qualifying for the British Grand Prix began on Saturday morning, Luca Marini working hard to find a way out of Q1 and eventually settling for 15th on the grid as Joan Mir’s final flying lap of Q2 was halted by debris on track. The Mallorcan would take 12th with a best time of 1’58.043, still three tenths faster than his Q1 time from 2025.
From the fourth row, Mir made a strong start to the race and quickly moved into the point scoring positions with Pedro Acosta just ahead a constant motivator. Eyeing the closing stage of the 10-lap-Sprint, Mir saved his tyres and went on the attack right at the end. Crossing the line less than a tenth behind Acosta, Mir leaves Saturday in Silverstone with three points and a solid seventh – achieving his and the team’s objective for the day.
Luca Marini’s Sprint was a near constant battle with Fabio Quartararo as the Italian and the factory Yamaha rider duked it out on the edge of the points. With several other riders fading towards the end, the #10 pushed his Honda RC213V hard to try and capture any points which might be on offer. Taking 12th on the line, Marini is aiming for more on Sunday where his trademark consistency will no doubt help in the demanding 20-lap British GP.
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“A good race after we had hoped for a little more in Qualifying, I was pushing right until the end to catch Pedro! I made a good start and spent most of the race a little bit alone, just focusing on my pace. Of course, if our grid position was better, we could have achieved more but I think around this position is our realistic goal each weekend more or less. No mistakes in the race, I have to be proud of this. Our tyre was still good at the end, and I think this will be a key point for Sunday’s Grand Prix as well. Let’s see what we can do with the team tonight to go a bit faster.”
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“Yesterday we did a good job in practice to prepare for today and there were not any surprises because of this. We are still looking for a bit more grip, it maybe helped us at the end of the race with tyre life and that’s why we were able to close a bit to Binder and Moreira. Still work to do to improve this grip and the turning of the bike, so I’m hoping to try a couple of things in the Warm Up on Sunday morning. It will be a long race tomorrow, we need to keep our focus and manage everything well.”
