HRC sign Joan Mir for 2023-24 MotoGP seasons
As soon as Suzuki announced the end of their MotoGP programme that put riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins onto the market, Mir was expected to move to the Repsol Honda Team in place of Pol Espargaro. On 30 August, after months of speculation, those expectations were finally confirmed when Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) announced they had signed Mir to Repsol Honda on a two-year deal.
In addition to a new team for 2023, the deal will see Mir on new machinery, too, as the 24-year-old Spaniard has only ever ridden Suzuki’s GSX-RR since he first joined the premier class in 2019.
Honda’s RC213V has proven to be something of a poisoned chalice for all bar Marc Marquez in recent years, with Jorge Lorenzo, Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaro all failing to achieve any notable successes on the bike.
The elder Marquez’s absence with injury for all of 2020 saw Honda go winless that year, while the manufacturer’s three wins in 2021 were all delivered by Marquez, despite his season being compromised due to complications from the same injury. After 14 rounds of this year’s season, Honda are winless again; a situation that Mir and a fully-fit Marquez will be expected to address in 2023.
"I’m very excited to officially announce that I will join the Repsol Honda Team next year," Mir said, following HRC’s brief statement.
“Thanks to HRC for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to defend these historic colours, which are full of history and world titles. We will take advantage of all my experience accumulated over the years in MotoGP with Suzuki to contribute as much as possible to the project and fight together to become world champions again.”
Although he talks of experience, Mir is a relative newcomer to grand prix racing, joining Moto3 full-time in 2016 and winning the World Championship in that class a year later. After one season in Moto2 in 2018, Mir stepped up to MotoGP in 2019 with Suzuki.
Despite achieving only one race win in the premier class (as of this year’s San Marino round), Mir’s consistency saw him earn the MotoGP World Championship in 2020, followed by third overall in last year’s championship.
Mir’s signing with Repsol Honda means all factory seats for the 2023 MotoGP grid have been finalised, with only a handful of seats at the independent teams unfilled at time of writing
