Joan Mir will join Gresini starting from the 2027 MotoGP season, replicating the path that Marc Marquez traced in 2024. However, the circumstances and motivations that have driven these two riders are quite different.
Marquez and Mir shared the Honda team during the 2023 season. The former, in a radical turn, decided to leave his contract with HRC, valued at nearly 20 million euros, to join Gresini and ride a year-old Ducati. This decision was seen as a risky bet, motivated by a personal desire to discover whether his lack of results was due to Honda or himself.
In contrast, Joan Mir, world champion in 2020, has not questioned his abilities. In fact, he probably would have continued at Honda had it not been for the Japanese brand not clarifying his future. Despite his team’s attempts to manage renewal talks, Honda adjusted meetings, leading Mir to explore other options.
The owner of Gresini, Nadia Padovani, opened the doors of her team to Mir, who seeks a competitive environment where he can demonstrate his potential, away from the inherent pressure of big brands. The current situation of Honda, which is undergoing a rebuilding process, has made it difficult for Mir to feel comfortable.
Mir formalized his contract with Gresini during the French Grand Prix in Le Mans, all while awaiting the official announcement that will have to wait until the new MotoGP Concorde Agreement is signed. He is likely to bring in his previous race engineer, Frankie Carchedi, who played a key role in his championship victory with Suzuki and also helped Marquez in his adaptation to Ducati.
Although the challenges Mir expects are different from those Marquez faced, the financial aspects of their contracts are similar. Mir has expressed that he would be willing to compete without a salary, a decision that reflects the effort he is willing to make to revitalize his career.
With the regulatory change in 2027, the uncertainty about which motorcycle model will emerge as the leader is an additional challenge for Mir, who will not have the guidance that Marquez had by sharing a garage with his brother. The recent news that Bagnaia has renewed until 2028, together with the arrival of Pedro Acosta, highlights the different path that both riders are taking at Gresini, with Mir aware that there will be no vacancies in the factory team until at least 2029.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
