Joan Mir has withdrawn from this weekend’s Italian MotoGP after sustaining a hand injury following a crash during second practice.
The Repsol Honda Team had a challenging Friday at Mugello after Joan Mir suffered an injury after crashing resulting to subsequent retirement from the Italian Grand Prix. Meanwhile Marc Márquez crashed in the final moments of the second practice session making it a terrible day for the team.
The team released a statement claiming that Mir’s day was cut short due to an accident he experienced during the second practice session. The 2020 world champion’s right hand was ultimately revealed to have an injury on one of the fingers after he experienced severe discomfort and had it checked.
The Honda statement read: “Joan Mir had a difficult first day at the Italian MotoGP, a crash mid-way through second practice ending his day early suffering significant discomfort.
“The #36 went to have his hand examined and revealed damage around the fifth finger of the right hand.
“Due to the high-speed and demanding nature of the Mugello Circuit, Joan Mir and the Repsol Honda Team have decided to withdraw from the remainder of the event due to the injury sustained to his right hand.”
Mir crashed at Turn 1 in the midpoint of the hour-long practice. The incident marks 12 crashes the 2020 MotoGP world champion has encountered so far this season are more than he experienced in 2022 while riding for Suzuki.
Marc Marquez, who returned from injury at the most recent round in France where he was in contention for the podium before crashing, will now be the team’s sole factory rider for this weekend’s races.
Marquez qualified for Q2 thanks to his eighth-place result in the combined times on Friday. The highest-finishing Honda rider was LCR’s Alex Rins, who placed third overall after topping the opening practice while his teammate Takaaki Nakagami came in 21st.
Mir has only scored five points since switching to Honda for 2023, and they were all secured during the season-opening Portuguese Grand Prix.
He crashed during the Argentina MotoGP sprint and ended up being taken to the hospital with cranial and cervical trauma. He was later ruled out from the event. Mir subsequently failed to finish the next four races in a row: the US GP, both of the Jerez races, and the Le Mans race.
Given the challenges he is now experiencing, Mir acknowledged after his two crashes during the French GP that he is “afraid” of ending up at Honda like Jorge Lorenzo and Pol Espargaro.
Mir marks the fifth rider to team up with Marquez at Honda in six years, following Espargaro in 2021–2022, Dani Pedrosa in 2018–19, Lorenzo in 2019 and Alex Marquez in 2020.
Pedrosa’s final season with Honda was his first winless campaign in MotoGP while Lorenzo’s career was all but over thanks to his troubles at Honda.
