From a double Q2 appearance to a double podium battle, Luca Marini and Joan Mir put together their best Saturdays as Honda HRC riders while continuing important development work.
Expectations were high after a positive Friday for the Honda HRC Castrol team at the brand-new Balaton Park circuit, Luca Marini and Joan Mir delivering on their targets with each session. Both riders continued to assess a selection of new parts for the Honda RC213V while unpicking the various secrets of the Hungarian circuit.
Luca Marini’s characteristic approach of steady and consistent improvements continued on Saturday as he secured ninth on the grid – just a single place shy of his best Qualifying result on a Honda, eighth at the 2025 British GP. Starting in the heart of the action, the #10 made an incredible start and shot forward to be perfectly positioned to take advantage of the Turn 1 melee after having already gained a handful of places. From here, Marini would hold fourth place for the entirety of the race as he launched several attempts to pass Morbidelli ahead for the podium. Although unable to secure a debut-Honda rostrum, Marini and the entirety of Honda HRC are delighted with the performance of Saturday and ready to replicate it on Sunday.
Carrying the feeling from Austria, Joan Mir was again able to place his Honda HRC Castrol RC213V amongst the front-runners in every session. From tenth on the grid, Mir immediately gained five places to slot into fifth behind his teammate. Steadily closing in, Mir looked for a way through on the other Honda early in the race but a mistake at Turn 5 dropped him back. The remainder of the race saw the 2020 World Champion looking for a way past on Aldeguer before taking a safe sixth at the finish.
With overtaking appearing quite complicated in Hungary, the start of tomorrow’s 26-lap Hungarian GP will again be crucial. Both Marini and Mir have shown they have the pace for the top five and the ability to contest the podium.
Luca Marini
Fourth
“Since the start of the weekend, we’ve had a great feeling with the bike and a lot of the research I have done has helped. I am delighted for the result of today, not just for me but for the team who have been working really hard with me from the moment I joined Honda. I was in a good place to take advantage of the drama at the start, avoiding collisions and then holding fourth. I tried for a long time to stay right behind Morbidelli, but he was riding well, and it was better to hold fourth than risk something. Now we have a lot more information to work with, so there will be things to do tonight to improve more for Sunday. I am looking forward to it.”
Joan Mir
Sixth
“It’s been a really positive day today, from Q2 to the Sprint we were able to do a really good job and learn a lot. This is the important part, we have a lot of margin to make another step tomorrow and if we avoid a couple of small mistakes from today then we can be right with Luca and fight for more. Of course, as a rider, always you want another step as soon as you make the first – everyone in the team is really hungry to keep improving. Today we tried a different chassis starting in the morning, doing some back-to-back running and it’s something we need to work with a bit more. At the end of the race I kept calm to try and see what was possible to get past Fermin while also holding back Bezzecchi, satisfied with our situation today overall.”
