Mir masters Malaysian GP for second Honda podium

Date posted on October 28, 2025

Finishing what he started on Saturday (October 25), Joan Mir sealed his second podium finish of the flyaway races in fine fashion as he charged through the field. Luca Marini bounced back to secure another top ten finish and gain vital championship points.

Repeating his start to Saturday’s Sprint race, Joan Mir immediately moved himself into contention as he latched onto the back of Fabio Quartararo and spent several laps working to get past the French rider. As the race entered its second half, Mir’s superior pace saw him breeze past and break away to a comfortable fourth. Rapidly closing in on a fading Francesco Bagnaia, Mir had the pace to catch and pass the Ducati rider as he matched the podium trio’s speed, but a technical problem would promote Mir onto the podium.

Third at the line, an emotional Mir entered Parc Ferme for the second time in 2025 as his and Honda HRC’s effort were once again rewarded. The result moves the #36 to 93 points, more than doubling his total points haul from his previous two seasons with Honda. Two races offer two more chances of further success for the double World Champion.

Close to his teammate off the line, Luca Marini made another fantastic start to the Malaysian GP. Unfortunately, a small mistake dropped him back into the chasing group and he became entangled in an almost race long battle with Johann Zarco. Eventually getting the better of him, Marini would easily escape up the road with clean air to end the race in eighth and in turn securing a good haul of points after his first crash of the year. Besting Zarco once more, just six points now split the pair in their battle for top Honda honours.

A week of rest and recovery now awaits before the final pair of back-to-back races rounds out an incredible 2025 MotoGP World Championship. The Portuguese Grand Prix will take place on November 07 – 09 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve.

#36 Joan Mir – 3rd
“It was a great race but one of the toughest of my life, the temperature, managing the tyres, controlling the bike – you had to be perfect everywhere and we managed to do it. I am so happy to end these races like this, to show what we could really do after yesterday. We took the maximum out of our package, and this shows the great work that we have done as a team. When you are confident you can do this. I realised that we could do something, and I just went for it, right on that narrow line between being fast and crashing. I was very careful at Turn 9! The progress Honda has made in 12 months is fantastic, I knew what was possible with this project and that’s why I signed for another two years. Thank you to my team and all of Honda’s engineers.”

#10 Luca Marini – 8th
“A good end to the weekend where again I think we had a lot of pace. The bike is continuing to improve and the top five is always there. I made a really good start and I was up with Mir and Zarco but I made a mistake and dropped back. After that I was in a big group fighting with many riders and it took a lot of laps to pass Zarco. With the medium front I was able to brake really hard but we were missing something in the turning. Maximizing our results in Qualifying is the area that we need to improve, both with myself and the bike. Congratulations to Mir on another good podium.”