HONDA’S RACE PACE LEAVES RIDERS WITH LITTLE ROOM FOR ERROR

Honda showed some progress at Sepang, but its riders still lacked the pace and control to challenge at the front. After eight laps of Sunday’s Grand Prix, all four were running inside the top 11: Johann Zarco was seventh, Luca Marini eighth, Joan Mir 10th and Diogo Moreira 11th. Only Marini reached the finish, taking seventh. Mir retired after dizziness, following a prolonged illness; Zarco’s RC213V developed a problem, while Moreira crashed from 10th after the halfway point.

Moreira said the bike left him with little margin for error. “I can save a slide three or four times, but not for the whole race,” he explained. He had struggled all weekend to feel the front tyre and slow the Honda as he wanted. Before falling, he caught one front-end slide but could not recover from the next. Although he considered his race pace reasonable, he said the lack of room to manage the bike made the weekend especially difficult.

The reigning Moto2 champion added that Honda’s weakness is more apparent over race distance than in a single-lap push. He said he was not attacking, but simply trying to stay on the bike and avoid mistakes as the race became harder. “When I go for a lap time, it’s not so bad,” Moreira said. “But in the race the others have much more in reserve than we do.” He described Malaysia as extremely challenging and said Honda could not extract more from its package there.

The team now turns to the upcoming races on the Arabian Peninsula, including Qatar. Marini is Honda’s leading rider in the standings, 13th overall, with Moreira 15th. Honda’s best results this season remain fifth places for Marini and Mir in Hungary and Brno. Mir’s availability for Qatar is uncertain; should he be unable to ride, World Superbike competitor Jake Dixon is available as a replacement.