Joan Mir’s never-ending nightmare on the Honda: with Gresini he hopes for a 'Marquez effect'

A weekend to forget at the TT Circuit for the Honda rider, who had hoped for much better results after the top 5 in Brno: the 2027 move could relaunch him.

The fifth place finish in the Czech Republic had given Joan Mir confidence, as he arrived in Assen aiming for consistency and to wrap up another Grand Prix on a positive note. It didn’t go according to plan. After doing well to get through Q1 and then securing the tenth time in Q2, it was a disaster: his sprint race lasted four corners, while his long race lasted ten. Two retirements, 0 points scored, yet another disappointment.

If in the Sprint he may have made the mistake of running a bit too far off line, on a dirtier part of the track, in Sunday’s race he didn’t understand the reason for his crash: "I don’t know why I fell," said the Honda rider to Motosan, " whereas on Saturday I knew. It’s something that happens quite often, I crash and you don’t know why. That’s the reality. I think I’ve found myself in this situation many times, and the best thing for my mental health is not to overthink it, but to try to rest, relax, reset and then try again next time, because the reality is that we are fast. I think we’ve shown we can get a top five, not every weekend, but almost."

Mir is convinced he could have finished the GP at Assen with a solid top 10, ending up between fifth and eighth: "I think I could have fought with Alex, with Bastianini, maybe with Marc at the end, I believe I would have been in that group. It was probably the worst weekend of the whole year for me."

Two retirements without even completing the first lap of either race, a weekend to forget. Counting only the long races, there have been six retirements out of ten held so far; adding the sprints, we need to include another five retirements in the tally. The next GP will be at the Sachsenring (July 10–12); we’ll see how the RC213V performs in Germany.

In the last two years Honda has improved compared to the two before, but the Majorcan has never found consistency in good results—only in crashes. A shame, also because at times he had given the impression of having decent potential and then squandered it all. In some cases, his ambition to be as far forward as possible clashed with the actual value of his RC213V, leading him to push and make mistakes. Even while trying to keep a positive mindset, it’s normal to feel a lot of frustration.

Frustration he hopes to leave behind in 2027, when he will step onto a Ducati with the Gresini team. After riding only for factory teams (Suzuki and Honda), Mir will compete for a satellite outfit for the first time—but not just any. Nadia Padovani’s team has proven to be very strong in recent years, also capable of relaunching riders who chose Gresini for a specific reason.

A well-known case is that of Marc Marquez, who left a lucrative Honda contract to join the Faenza-based team and ride a Ducati. A spot-on decision, right? Gresini also saved the career of his brother Alex, who after difficult years on the Honda risked being left off the MotoGP grid. Mir will also arrive at Gresini from an RC213V and hopes to relaunch himself, proving he’s still a top-level rider.

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