Honda hopes Mir doesn’t lose motivation all through its MotoGP nadir

Honda is hoping that its lead rider Joan Mir can take care of his motivation degree till it is in a position to produce a aggressive motorbike in MotoGP once more.

The Jap producer’s 2024 marketing campaign used to be arguably its worst-ever within the premier magnificence, because it ended the 12 months on the backside of the standings with simply 75 issues at the board.

At the manufacturing unit RC213V, Mir mustered simply 21 issues all through the season, completing twenty first and most effective forward of team-mate Luca Marini within the riders’ standings. Each had been outscored via LCR duo Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami, dealing an extra blow to HRC’s symbol.

Group boss Alberto Puig admitted that Honda’s aggressive battle has made existence tough for 2020 champion Mir, however he needs the Spaniard to retain the similar need to achieve MotoGP.

“Joan is already an international champion in MotoGP, so the present scenario isn’t so at ease for him,” Puig instructed the reputable MotoGP web page.

“The motorbike isn’t on the degree. He is attempting, he has had some crashes, clearly. When you’re a champion, you’re pushing, you wish to have to have the outcome, however nonetheless issues may just no longer fit. 

“I’m hoping he can stay his motivation even in tough occasions.”

Puig feels Honda used to be in a position to discover a transparent course with the improvement of the motorbike after a lot of experiments all through the primary part of the 2024 season.

A transparent uplift in efficiency used to be visual from the second one spherical in Misano, with Zarco in a position to ship two top-10 finishes all through the flyaway races in Asia.

Alternatively, whilst Puig takes encouragement from the growth made via the workforce, he admitted that the effects had been a long way underneath expectancies.

“It is not been simple, obviously. The effects don’t seem to be what we wish,” he conceded.

“However it is been a 12 months that….[in the] first a part of the season we had been attempting many many stuff and answers and in the second one a part of the 12 months we roughly had an concept of what can paintings or no longer. 

“We made some enhancements, no longer up to we’d have favored. We made some enhancements and we’re in consistent analysis of the best way to get ready subsequent 12 months’s gadget. 

“Nonetheless we did not make the outcome we’re in search of. However from our engineering viewpoint, the engineers are figuring out increasingly more the best way to continue, the place to head, and the way we need to do, which is vital. however this most likely takes time to look the effects, the truth at the paper.”

Alberto Puig, Group Most important Repsol Honda Group

Photograph via: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photographs

Keeping up Honda’s power to go back to the entrance, Puig insisted: “The one factor we by no means misplaced used to be our will to come back again.

“That is the desire that drives you to stay on going, although we’re obviously at the back of, and this can be a reality.”