After Suzuki decided to abandon MotoGP at the end of the 2022 season, Joan Mir took refuge at Honda for this year, signing a two-year deal to race with the factory team.
But this year has been a miserable one for the 2020 world champion, who scored just 24 points in 17 races, with a fifth place in the Indian GP, while injuries forced him to miss the GPs of Argentina, Spain, Italy, Germany and Holland.
This year Mir has spoken at times about a possible retirement, but has admitted that he would hate to leave Honda at this time.
Before last weekend’s Thai Grand Prix – in which Mir finished 12th – he declared that he had started to find small positive aspects from race to race, but that he was still unable to enjoy himself on the RC213V.
“I still can’t enjoy racing, but I’ve made some progress on the mental aspect, taking things differently, trying to enjoy the little things, the few positive moments on the bike, like a good result in a session of testing or a good feeling in the race,” he said.
“Instead of seeing everything negative, I see more positive things, and this allows me to have a better mood and helps me face the season. Right now we need to be patient, take the current moment in the best way and I’m happy to how am I going, because it’s not easy at all.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Team
“But we have to wait and see what they bring to Valencia and, in the meantime, try in some of the remaining races to do as in India and be close to the podium, trying to get a good result. At the moment I’m only thinking about this.”
He then added: “I am aware that the situation will not be resolved overnight, but I also know well that, no matter how well I am managing the situation, I don’t want to have another year like this, I can’t afford it.” .
“We have to do things as well as possible, so that these people understand and bring something that allows me to have a more comfortable season.”
Mir will become Honda’s de facto leader in 2024 with Marc Marquez’s departure to Gresini Racing, where he will ride a Ducati, and thinks the brand should “pay more attention to me than it has” in terms of feedback.
“I haven’t noticed yet, in the teams, and even more so in the factory teams, one rider is very independent from the other,” Mir said of taking on the leadership role at Honda.
“It’s like another team, I don’t really notice what happens on the other side of the garage, but only what happens in my part of the team and the feedback with the Japanese.”
“It is clear that they know who is staying and that they should pay more attention to me than they have.”
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