GREATER NOIDA:
The first Indian Grand Prix will go down as a classic, and a highlight of the year for Joan Mir who earned his best result of the season. Marc Marquez showed the potential of the Honda RC213V as he put in an early podium challenge and impressive recovery.
All eyes were on Joan Mir who started in fourth place, Marini withdrawing due to injury, as the lights went out. The #36 maintained his position alongside the Repsol Honda Team machine of Marquez as the pair hunted the riders ahead. Looking comfortable, Mir held his own and settled into a comfortable fifth with Quartararo just ahead of him. Brad Binder would once again in the rear-view mirrors of a Repsol Honda Team RC213V as the South African hunted down Mir. An impressive save in the closing laps meant the double World Champion was forced to concede fourth place to the South African.
Rallying in the closing laps, Mir would end the race just over half a second behind Binder and take fifth place. This is Mir’s best result as a Honda rider and is a just reward for his and the team’s tireless work to improve their fortunes. Now heading to Honda’s home round in Motegi, Mir is aiming to continue this moment and once again show the potential of himself and the bike.
With a belly full of fire and motivation after a return to the Sprint podium, Marquez shot off the line and immediately hooked himself to the back of the leading trio. As Martin and Bagnaia traded blows, the #93 sensed his opportunity and turned up the pace to stay with them. Unfortunately, at Turn 1 on lap five, Marquez fell but there was no waiting around an in true Marquez style, he remounted within just eight seconds and rejoined in 16th place.
From here, he cut through the field and found himself back inside the top ten by lap 14. Steady progress continued and the eight-time World Champion would take ninth at the flag, a solid result considering the fall.
The entire Repsol Honda Team now head directly to Japan for Honda’s home race at the Motegi circuit.
Marc Marquez (9th)
“If you just looked at the final result and see ninth you wouldn’t know the whole story of our race – but to achieve what could be considered our ‘normal’ result after a crash is a positive. It was a really small crash but I was pushing very hard to stay in the slip stream of the bikes ahead, I went a bit wide and just fell. I came into this race with the motivation of the Sprint podium, so when I saw Pecco and Martin make a mistake I decided I needed to push. This led to the mistake. The most important thing was finishing the race, overall our rhythm was very close to Quartararo so I think we can be overall happy with what we have done this weekend.”
Joan Mir (5th)
“A great race today. I am super happy with our performance over the weekend and of course to finish in fifth position is a big boost for us. The team and I did a great job to understand the bike more, how you need to make the lap time and be fast this weekend. On the other hand, we had a small thing in the end of the race that meant I lost ground to Fabio and we dropped back. Finally in the end we were able to push and try to catch Binder after I almost crashed. It was a big save! But yeah, a really nice race overall and I have enjoyed my time in India. Let’s keep it up in Japan”.
