Honda has provided an explanation for not bringing any substantial updates to its MotoGP bike in Tuesday’s official test in Barcelona.
While rival manufacturers took big steps in their preparations for the forthcoming season during the seven hours of running at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Honda did not have its 2025 bike on hand to test, nor did it have any major new parts available to evaluate.
The situation particularly angered factory rider Joan Mir, who said: “The reality is that I didn’t have a lot of things to test, I had already tested everything before. I’ve done 70 laps with things I’ve tested at least twice.”
The unavailability of new parts at Honda was evident in the results, with its best runner Johann Zarco finishing 10th on the LCR-entered RC213V. Mir and team-mate Luca Marini ended up even further down in 15th and 18th on the factory bikes.
However, HRC boss Alberto Puig insisted there was a valid reason behind the Japanese marque taking a conservative approach in Barcelona.
Johann Zarco, Honda LCR
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Puig explained that Honda had been able to privately run several new components over the course of the year thanks to the concession system, and thus it did not find it sensible to bring anything notable to the official test.
“The 2025 prototype is built when you have something that fits you,” Puig told DAZN.
“As we have done so many tests during the year, it didn’t make sense to bring the prototype here. During the year we have been trying many things, and it didn’t make sense to bring a ‘black’ bike here, when we have had a ‘black’ bike for a large part of the year.”
Honda will conduct a private test in Jerez later this month, when some new upgrades that are in the pipeline for 2025 could finally be ready. But the Barcelona test was seen as crucial for manufacturers as it allowed them to run direct comparisons with data gathered from the previous weekend’s race at the same circuit.
Puig revealed that Honda’s focus in Barcelona was to understand and fix the chattering issue that has plagued Mir in the final months of the 2024 season.
“We had three important things to test, which we have been testing during the year, but we do not have a prototype as such,” he said.
Joan Mir, Honda Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“We work with different issues of the bike, for stability, braking, vibrations. It has not been…
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