P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Fastest in Saturday practice at the Catalan MotoGP showed Joan Mir “we can fight for something serious” – before setbacks struck.
Joan Mir’s impressive performance during final practice for the Catalan MotoGP demonstrated the potential to compete for more than just a top-five position.
Mir topped the morning session and narrowly outpaced Alex Marquez in the afternoon Sprint race, both using the same compound and aged tires initially.
Setting their best lap times after about 8 laps on the rear and 12/13 laps on the front tires, Mir was just 0.022s ahead of Marquez.
Mir acknowledged the competitiveness shown during practice, expressing optimism about fighting for a higher position in the race.
Despite the promising practice results, Mir faced challenges in Qualifying 1 and the Sprint race, emphasizing the need to improve Honda’s performance in qualifying sessions.
Team-mate Luca Marini had a solid performance in the Sprint, finishing behind Johann Zarco and highlighting the positive progress in their bike development compared to the previous year.
