2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir has been officially announced as Marc Marquez’s teammate at Honda’s factory squad for at least the next two years.
Following Suzuki’s shocking announcement earlier this year that it would leave MotoGP at the end of 2022, Mir has been extensively rumored to step in as Pol Espargaro’s replacement for 2023 and beyond. Mir was previously a rider for Repsol Honda and was left without a spot as a result.
Honda has moved to name Mir as Marquez’s teammate for the next two years after Espargaro was announced at the newly rebranded GasGas Tech 3 KTM squad for next year at the Austrian Grand Prix just over a week ago.
Mir will join current teammate Alex Rins at Honda after the latter signed a contract to take Alex Marquez’s spot at LCR for the upcoming season over the recent summer break. Rins will receive the same full-factory RC213-V equipment at the Italian team that Marquez does.
The 24-year-old is no stranger to success with the Japanese manufacturer; he won the 2017 Moto3 world championship in convincing fashion on a Leopard Racing-run Honda bike before spending a year in Moto2 before graduating to the premier class with Suzuki for the 2019 season.
After a challenging debut season with Suzuki, Mir would shockingly win the championship in the Covid-19-affected 2020 season, scoring one win at Valencia before securing the title with one round remaining.
With no podium finishes to date and a career-high six DNFs, Mir’s 2022 season can only be defined as turbulent. He now sits in 12th place in the riders standings with seven races remaining, he will miss this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix after breaking his ankle at the Red Bull Ring.
