Honda has found ‘clear direction’ with new MotoGP concept it’s testing

Honda has scored just 13 points in the manufacturers’ standings after four rounds this season, with none of its riders breaking into the top 10 in grands prix yet.

During the Americas Grand Prix, Mir was very critical of Honda for pursuing what he felt was the wrong bike concept and said the marque had to “take responsibility” for this.

On Monday at the post-race Jerez test, however, Mir was buoyed by the bike he tried in the opening hours of the test and felt Honda had found the correct direction to develop.

“For me, the day was more positive than what you could see because we tried a different concept,” he started. “Honestly, I think it was working, [it] was the direction I want to take for the future.

“It’s one direction that we need to develop but I think it can have some potential in the future – not now, but in the future.

“More or less it was positive because we know the direction we finally have to take and this is nice.”

Asked if it was a new engine he was testing, Mir added: “We are testing different stuff on the engine, not probably [a full] engine, but different things to understand the direction. I think I have things clear.”

Honda test rider Stefan Bradl contested last weekend’s Spanish GP on a lab bike, but Mir says this motorcycle was “not the right direction and I decided to continue with my one” for the Jerez weekend, having tried it in a test in Barcelona.

A key issue for Honda this year has been the bike’s poor turning, but the new bike concept Mir tried on Monday at Jerez appears to have improved on this.

“We are trying to find the turning that we are missing,” he said, when asked what the new bike was doing better.

“That is the weakest point that we have. It looks like we understood that with this thing [bike] we can have more turning.

“It’s true that we lose a lot in other areas, but it’s areas where there is a lot of margin to improve. So, that gives us a direction.”