Repsol Honda Team prospects dashed by early race incidents in Assen
Assen, July 03, 2024: A promising start to the race for both Joan Mir and Luca Marini would be extinguished early in the race as a fall and off-track moment saw them drop out of contention at the Dutch TT.
Both Repsol Honda Team riders entered Sunday with clear ambitions of forward progress. Starting well as the lights went out, Joan Mir quickly moved into the lead of the quarter of RC213V machines and attached himself to the main group. Sitting comfortably in the points with the majority of the race ahead of him, a small crash on lap seven would bring a premature end to proceedings. Mir was unharmed in the fall.
Looking to make up for the lost track time on Saturday, Luca Marini was determined to make amends. Slotting in behind his teammate as the lights went out, Marini made good progress in the first lap. Unfortunately, a moment in the opening sent Marini into the gravel, the Italian rejoining to collect the maximum amount of data. He finished 17th.
Now the race is on to arrive at the Sachsenring for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, on-track action starting in just five days.
Joan Mir (17th)
“This weekend was full of bad luck for us, in today’s race I had the pace to fight with Zarco. Augusto Fernandez made contact with me early in the race and I went into the gravel, losing a lot of time. I think I had the potential to finish in the points. It’s clear that we need to keep on working and I think a fast track like Assen gives us some insight into what areas are most critical. It’s really good to have Sachsenring now, to have a better race before another break.”
Luca Marini (DNF)
“During the start, I had made some progress and was with the group fighting for the top ten. I was happy with my speed and breaking away from the riders behind and my feeling was improving with every lap. I was trying hard in Sector 1 to recover the time I was losing in other parts of the track and turn three I leaned just a little bit too much and lost the front. I am a rider who is always going to try for more, and sometimes this means we fall. That ended our race. We can see the areas we need to work on during the break.”