Honda struggled again in 2024, but could 2025 be a better year for the Japanese manufacturer?
The 2024 MotoGP season was difficult for the Japanese manufacturers, but Honda was hit the hardest. Across the year the manufacturer did not get a podium or a win in a Grands Prix or a Sprint Race.
However, there were signs of improvement in the second half of the season, especially in the hands of Johann Zarco. The Frenchman took his LCR Honda to the top ten on two occasions, he was also in Q2 on multiple occasions.
Zarco was the top Honda rider in the 2024 MotoGP World Championship as he finished 17th. This does not look impressive on paper but he was 24 points ahead of his teammate, Takaaki Nakagami, and 34 points ahead of Joan Mir, the top Repsol Honda rider.
“It’s not been easy, clearly,” HRC team manager Alberto Puig admitted when speaking to MotoGP.com.
“The results are not the ones we want. It’s been a year that, [in the first half] of the season, we were trying many solutions, and in the second part of the year, we could more or less have some idea of what can work, and not.
“We made some improvements, not as much as we would have liked, but we made some improvements and we are in constant research of how to prepare next year’s machine.
“Still we didn’t make the results we are looking for, but from an engineering point of view, they are understanding more and more how to proceed, where to go, and how we have to do [it], which is important.
“But this probably takes some time to see it on paper, but the only thing we never lost was our will to come back; this is the will that drives you to keep on going, even though we are clearly behind, and this is a fact.”
After a difficult few seasons, the factory Honda team has lost their Repsol sponsorship for 2025. Despite the poor results and losing their long-term sponsor their rider lineup remains the same. Joan Mir will enter his third year with Honda, and Luca Marini will enter his second year with Honda.
“He is already a World Champion in MotoGP,” Puig said of Mir, “so the current situation is not so comfortable for him, the bike is not at the level.
“He’s trying, he crashes, obviously, because when you are a champion you’re pushing, you want to have the result. But still, things could not match, and we hope that he can keep his motivation up even in difficult times.
“[Marini] is very analytical,” Puig added. “He could be working for 24 hours because he really loves this. He is really trying to give all of his information, and this is from a working point of view.
“From a human side, he’s a really nice guy, he’s super-polite and respectful.”
