Sepang International Circuit
Sepang showers shake up Saturday Sprint for Marini and gambling Mir
An extremely close qualifying shootout saw Joan Mir and Luca Marini take 11th and 13th on the grid respectively, the Honda HRC Castrol pair battling uncertain weather conditions when the lights went out on the 10-lap Sprint.
The heat and intensity of the Malaysian Grand Prix continued to ramp up on Saturday at the 5.54 kilometre-long Sepang International Circuit, the MotoGP World Championship grid vying for position as the weekend entered its most critical stage. Both Joan Mir and Luca Marini went about their business in the final practice session without any major incident, continuing to hone the setup of their respective Honda RC213V machines.
As the physical demands of the weekend increased, Luca Marini felt the impact of his energy-sapping virus return. Unable to give his maximum effort physically, the Italian was still able to put in a respectable 1’57.623 in Q1, missing the top two by less than a tenth of a second. From 13th on the grid, the Italian was able to gain a handful of places early but slowly faded as the ten-lap Sprint progressed with his energy continuing to drop. Opting to remain on slicks throughout the race, he earned 13th at the finish. A night of rest and recovery now awaits Marini ahead of his 200th Grand Prix start.
Converting his top ten from Friday into 11th place on the grid for both races, Joan Mir was left content with his Saturday morning performance and primed himself for his first race start since the San Marino GP. Launching well, the #36 felt himself a bit timid into Turn 1 and conceded ground early on. Reports of rain brought out the white flag and Mir was one of the first riders to come into the pits to change to wets, opting to gamble in uncertain conditions with the lead group having already escaped. The rain would unfortunately arrive on the cool-down lap, Mir bringing his Honda RC213V home in 16th place.
The 20-lap Malaysian Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 15:00 Local Time on Sunday, forecasts providing a mixed outlook on if it will be wet or dry. Regardless of the weather, it’s safe to say it will be a hard-fought affair no matter what.
Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol
“The Sprint took a lot out of me on the physical side, and I have a lot less energy than I was expecting. The feeling with the bike was good and we have been close to all the other Honda riders. We are still missing something in Qualifying because the other riders and brands are able to make a step. I need to spend this evening resting to recover as much as possible for Sunday because it will be a hard race physically, wet or dry.”
Joan Mir 36 Honda HRC Castrol
“Today was a day to gamble! I was expecting it to rain a little bit more, but this arrived only after we finished. It can happen and, in our position, the choice to come in early did not change the overall result by a massive margin. A good lesson for tomorrow that the tarmac can take a lot more rain before it really gets wet, so this is a positive. Otherwise, it has been a productive day, taking everything step by step and getting back into the speed of MotoGP. I missed a little bit into Turn 1 I think and we lost some of the early places we made from a really good start.”
