Joan Mir on Portugal MotoGP bike issues: ‘Honda knows cause, I don’t…’

Honda’s Joan Mir says the Japanese manufacturer knows why his MotoGP bike broke down during the Portuguese Grand Prix, but “I don’t know”.

The 2020 world champion showed strong pace across the Portimao weekend, but was unable to convert that into any race results due to a brace of technical issues.

In the sprint, a clutch issue dropped him to the back of the grid on the opening lap, before forcing him to retire into the pits.

Then in the grand prix, an unrelated problem knocked him out of the early stages.

Ahead of this weekend’s Valencia Grand Prix, Joan Mir says Honda has diagnosed what went wrong with his bike last Sunday in Portugal – but he doesn’t know what it found.

However, he has also brushed off his technical dramas as “part of the evolution” of the bike this year.

“Well, the team, yes. Me, no. I don’t know. But if they understand what happened to avoid for these races, it’s ok,” he said.

“I think this is also a part of the evolution of the bike.

“These types of problems can happen. It’s a shame to have two in a row.

“This is something that, historically, I don’t think has happened. But it’s part of it.

“We can’t say much about it. We just have to work and avoid it for the future.

“It’s something that I was frustrated about in Portimao, as you can imagine.

“But, I also made a lot of mistakes in the past. So, it’s nothing I can regret.

“The important thing is that hopefully, here we can also be strong.

“The confidence level is high, because I think in Portimao we were one of the fastest. So, we hope to do the same here.”

If Honda scores nine points across the Valencia weekend, it will go into the winter without some major concession benefits for 2026.

Chief among these is a freeze on engine development, with the Japanese brand having introduced three major upgrades to its motor in 2025 under its current concession ranking.

Tomado de https://www.crash.net/rss/dakar