MotoGP Catalunya GP Race Report: Honda's Mir Finishes 2nd After 2 Red Flags. Penalty and demotion... but a good run shines through.

The sixth round of MotoGP, the Catalunya GP, was held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain from May 15 to 17. The sprint race was won by Alex Marquez (Ducati). In the final race, Fabio Di Gianantonio (Ducati) won the race on the third start after two red flag interruptions, with Honda rider Joan Mir finishing second. Japanese rider Ai Ogura (APRILIA) also showed his characteristic pursuit in both the sprint race and the final race.

Up to the sprint, the top three were won by riders in order. However...

The venue for the Catalunya GP is the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. As the name suggests, it is located about 30 km north of Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain. This year's Catalunya GP was without 2025 champion Marc Marquez (Ducati). Marc Marquez is recovering from surgery after breaking the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot in a crash in the sprint race at the previous round in France. In qualifying, Pedro Acosta (KTM) took pole position, with Ducati riders Franco Morbidelli (Ducati) and Alex Marquez (Ducati) in second and third, respectively. Ai Ogura (APRILIA), the only Japanese rider in the MotoGP class, was 18th. Saturday's 12-lap sprint race was won by Alex Marquez. Alex Marquez's riding style is one of the strengths of this circuit, with its high-speed corners, and this result was somewhat fitting. Second place went to pole position rider Acosta, and third to Fabio Di Gianantonio (Ducati). Ogura started from 18th on the 6th row and made up 10 positions over the course of 12 laps to finish in 8th place. Sprint races, as the name implies, are contested over a small number of laps, and in the MotoGP class, where 22 of the world's best riders are competing, moving up a position is no easy task. This 8th place is more than just a ranking.

Two Red Flags Halted in Race

Sunday's race was red-flagged twice. The first red flag was caused by an accident on the straight between turns 9 and 10 on lap 12 after the first start. Acosta's car, which was leading at the time, developed a problem on the straight ahead of Turn 9. Alex Marquez, who was running right behind Acosta, avoided hitting him as he stalled on the straight running at full throttle, but made high-speed contact with Acosta's left side, losing his balance and tipping over violently. The fall was so severe that parts of the machine, both large and small, were scattered all over the course. Di Gianantonio, running fifth, was also forced to fall when he was hit by the tire of Alex Marquez, who flew into the air. After the race, Acosta told MotoGP.com that an electronic control problem had occurred. Alex Marquez was taken to the hospital by ambulance, where he suffered a minor fracture of the seventh cervical vertebra and a broken right collarbone. According to an announcement on the team's social networking site that day, the right clavicle fracture would be fixed with a plate on Sunday. The second red flag was immediately after the start of the second race, and the grid for the second start was based on the positions taken on lap 11 of the first race, with Acosta still in pole position, Raul Fernandez (Aprilia) in second, and Jorge Martín (Aprilia) in third. Ogura would start from 11th on the fourth row. An accident occurred at the first corner right after the start, when Johann Zarco (HONDA) starting from 5th, Luca Marini (HONDA) starting from 9th, and Francesco Bagnoia (DUCATI) starting from 10th crashed in a multiple crash. The crash sent Zarco to the hospital, where he suffered damage to the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments and medial meniscus of his left leg, as well as a small fracture to the fibula near his ankle. After being interrupted by two major accidents, the race resumed after 12 laps, the third time at the start. Grid positions were the same as for the second start. In this race, Honda's Joan Mille drove well, moving into second place on the first lap and chasing down the leader, Acosta. The crash of the two Aprilia riders in front of him was a factor in this position gain, but it was clear that Mill had a good start and the pace to chase down Acosta.

Di Gianantonio won with an injury. Honda's Mir finished second.

The winner of this race was Di Gianantonio, who had started 6th and was able to catch up. Di Gianantonio, who had injured his left hand in a crash in the first race, won for the first time since the 2023 Qatar GP. Mir finished the race in second place, in an impressive performance. However, after the race, a tire pressure violation was identified. This meant that Mill's tire pressure was below the Michelin standard. As a result, Mill received a penalty of 16 seconds added to his result and finished 13th in the final standings.

However, the fact remains that Mir finished second. Catalunya has been a particularly difficult circuit for Honda, which has struggled in recent years - until before 2025. Not since Marc Marquez won in 2019 has a Honda rider finished in the top three at Catalunya. Mir's second-place finish at such a circuit is a testament to Honda's evolution. Note that a total of five riders, including Mir, had tire pressure violations in this race. In a normal race, the teams predict the race development based on each rider's pace, the grid, the riders around them, and the conditions before the race, and then set the tire pressures to stay within the specified values during the race. In this case, with five riders receiving penalties, the two red-flag suspensions, the conditions (the third start was approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes after the original start time), the changed grid and number of laps, and various other factors made it difficult to set "proper" air pressure. It is thought that various factors, such as the red flag interruption and conditions (the third start was approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes after the original start time), the changed grid and number of laps, may have made it difficult to set "proper" air pressure. And it was Fermin Aldegger (Ducati) who took third place, his first podium finish since the 2025 Indonesian GP. Ogura had another typical race in this race, pushing hard to catch up. On the last lap, he was able to close in on Acosta, who was running in fourth place, and passed him on the last corner to finish in fourth place. However, because this overtaking caused Acosta to crash, Ogura received a 3-second time penalty (added to the result), equivalent to a long lap penalty*. The final result was 8th place. The next round, the 7th Italian GP, will be held at the Mugello Circuit in Italy from May 29 to 31. *Long lap penalty... A penalty that requires a driver to take a large circuit route set up off the track during a race. In Catalunya, this penalty is converted to 3 seconds (from "Race Direction Information"). The penalty Ogura received this time was "originally a long lap penalty, but because the subject incident could not be digested in the last corner of the last lap, three seconds of the converted time was added to the result. To the gallery (2)