“I hadn’t had any dangerous moments till I got here to Honda; I used to be spoiled”

Joan Mir feels it was robust for him to simply accept an uncompetitive bike at Honda as a result of he had been “spoiled” by his early success in MotoGP with Suzuki.

Mir’s arrival at Repsol Honda in 2023 coincided with a droop within the Japanese producer’s efficiency within the premier class, and he has since struggled to get the perfect out of the RC213V.

The Spaniard ended up twenty second and final within the championship in his maiden season with Honda and solely completed forward of latest team-mate Luca Marini in one other bruising marketing campaign in 2024.

Honda was already banking on Mir’s data for the event of the bike final yr following the lack of its star rider Marc Marquez, and crew boss Alberto Puig reiterated in testing that it wanted the perfect model of him this season.

“The rider remains to be the cornerstone of this self-discipline. That is why we want Joan to be on the prime of his sport,” Puig advised Motorsport.com.

In response, Mir had no qualms admitting that he suffered from an absence of motivation at sure factors final season as he contemplated his future in MotoGP, earlier than in the end agreeing to a brand new two-year take care of Honda.

The 27-year-old additional defined that his spectacular begin to life in MotoGP, together with his title win in 2020 in his sophomore season, meant that he wasn’t ready to race on the again finish of the pack upon his arrival at Honda.

“Alberto is aware of me very properly, he is aware of that when issues go incorrect I am going down, and that is in all probability as a result of I used to be very spoiled,” Mir stated in a candid interview.

“All through my profession I’ve had excellent outcomes and really early on. I got here to MotoGP [in 2019] and the primary yr I used to be already like a shot. And the second, I gained the title.

“I had an damage [at Brno], I overcame it and that is it. I hadn’t had any dangerous moments till I got here to Honda. And right here the odyssey started.

“It is easy to lose motivation while you’ve all the time been pushed by outcomes after which all of the sudden you cease getting them.

“It has been a very long time since I’ve loved racing.”

Mir breathed a sigh of aid in pre-season testing, having felt that Honda had lastly delivered the sort of step he needed from it.

Setting the eighth-fastest time at Buriram, Mir ended up 0.850s off the tempo of Marquez on the manufacturing facility Ducati, however extra importantly, he was the quickest rider throughout the Honda contingent.

It is a huge increase for Mir after two seasons wherein he was outscored by riders from Honda’s satellite tv for pc LCR crew.

“What I’ve loved throughout today of testing is superb – merely for having the ability to experience the bike the way in which I prefer it,” he stated. “For instance, for having the ability to enter the corners sideways. Not for the outcomes.”

There is just one factor that Mir now needs from Honda: “That the bike runs a little bit quicker, [has] a little bit extra prime pace.”