Joan Mir's time at HRC has not gone as well as it has done for many of his compatriots in the past. The Japanese manufacturer's performance struggles have led to questions over Mir's future, but ahead of this weekend's Dutch TT the Spaniard says he is looking for "the same intensity as always."

Although HRC has a long history of working well with Spanish riders, from Alex Criville to Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, the recent past has been more troubled. Marquez left last year, and that followed Pol Espargaro's departure at the end of 2022. Espargaro arrived to replace Alex Marquez after 2020, while the #73 followed Espargaro out the door when he joined Gresini Ducati for 2023. Marquez' 2020 Repsol Honda ride came after Jorge Lorenzo retired following his sole HRC season, Lorenzo arriving in 2019 to replace Pedrosa.

All of them, bar Pedrosa, exited for the same reason as Mir was expected to: the motorcycle. However, it's apparent progress with the motorcycle that has led Mir's agent Paco Sanchez to declare in the break between the Italian Grand Prix and this weekend's race in Assen that his priority is to remain at Honda and that "I hope we could reach an agreement during next weeks," as reported by Crash.net.

Ahead of this weekend's Dutch TT at Assen, a circuit where Mir has finished on the podium only once (2021), the #36 said: "I’ve had three good weeks to focus on training and working after a busy start to the year.

"Now we head into two back-to-back races before another small break and it’s important to work well both this weekend in Assen and then in Germany.

"With the second break, we will have a chance to work more on the bike and keep working on improvements. Let’s approach it with the same intensity as always.”

Mir's teammate, Luca Marini, was previously rumoured to be looking for a way out of the two-year HRC contract which began this year, although in Italy he affirmed that he would not be leaving Honda before his contract expires at the end of 2025.

The rumours of Marini's departure from Honda, or of his desire to leave, were spawned from the Italian's poor performances so far this season in which he has scored no points in the first seven rounds. However, Marini's performance has improved in recent races, and he finished within a second of LCR Honda's Johann Zarco at Mugello.

“I am looking forward to getting back on the Honda and back with the team so we can keep developing," Marini said. "It’s been a long break and I’m ready to continue our work because in Mugello we made a good step at the end of the weekend.

"I’ve no doubt it will be a useful two weeks for everyone in the Repsol Honda Team before the real MotoGP ‘Summer Break’. Assen and Sachsenring are two very different tracks so we will be able to explore many things."