Joan Mir is having a mixed season, and that's exactly what this first day in Australia reflected. Indeed, the Spanish rider has more speed than ever on the Honda RC213V, which allowed him to secure a second place in qualifying at Motegi, accompanied by a podium on Sunday. But, on the other hand, he's still falling as much, unable to take advantage of his progress. It was still visible two weeks ago at Mandalika, where the Honda seemed to have speed... but he fell in the first moments.
This time he finished 14th in Practice, which means he will have to go through Q1 tomorrow morning. « In the last races, we thought we were fast enough to play Q2, but that's not the case here. We've made a lot of progress on stop & go tracks., but on such a fluid circuit, you cannot fully exploit the bike" we read in the columns of GP One.
An incident for @JoanMirOfficial at Turn 1 ends his session.
— Honda HRC Castrol – MotoGP (@HRC_MotoGP) October 17, 2025
However, this did not stop his teammate Luca Marini from breaking into the top 10. « The Honda moves a lot and doesn't allow me to attackToday I am exhausted, because with so much movement it becomes difficult to be precise in all phases of piloting. Tomorrow we must find stability » he added.
Photo: Michelin Motorsport
Marini, for his part, believes it would be possible to fight for the best positions if a Honda manages to escape with the Aprilias, apparently the fastest. Two sides of the same coin. « We are clearly faster than last year, when it was very complicated.. But we have to succeed in reversing the trend. We have room to grow, especially because Luca Marini was very fast today." he concluded. Joan Mir will especially have to be careful about crashes, which are costing him a lot of points this year. This is partly why he is far behind his teammate in the general classification, even though the latter has competed in fewer races due to injury.
Do you think Joan Mir can turn the situation around in Australia? Tell us in the comments!
2025 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix Practice Results:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport
