Repsol Honda’s decisi💮on to keep Joan Mir alongside Luca Marini next year gives them the best chance to develop, it is claimed.

Mir’s new contractꦚ, which ties him to Honda for two more years, was perhaps surprising due to his struggles since joining from Suzuki.

Sucꦜh was his misery last year, his first riding the Honda, he contemplated retirement.

B🌠ut after Mir confirmed he would stay for 2025 and 2026, TNT Sports’ Sylvain Guintoli reacted: “For Joan and for Honda, keeping the same line-up is a good idea.

“The situation that they found themselves in, at the moment,🌳 is to catch up.

“From the start when Honda started to make changes to the aero side and the chassis, for [Mir and Marini] sticking w🎐ith that pro🗹ject is a good idea.

“When you try to rebuild a project, ꦏyou need consistencꦚy.

“Putting two new riders on, it would be more difficult to get good feedba🅘ck.

“These guys know what does not work.

“Fꦉor the evolution of the bike, these guys are the best guys to assess it.”

Marini joined⛄ Repsol Honda this season, becoming a factory rider for the first time after leavin✱g VR46.

But he has been glued to the back of the grid 💛for the entire season, and is rooted to the bottom of the MotoGP standings.

With just one point all season, Marini is below even Dani Pedrosa who rode once a🌟s a wildcar🎃d.

Mir has fared slightly be🌃tter in his second season on the below-par bike.

Honda will introduce a new engine at the next round i🌌n Austria.

Both Mir and Marini have run a less powerful version of Honda’s engineꦕ at the past t✅hree rounds, as they sought the ideal optimisation of the bike.

🐭This year’s revised concessions rules give Honda the opportun🍬ity to introduce a new engine midway through the season, designed to power their progression back to the front.