The news of the closure of Suzuki once this season ends caught the members of the Hamamatsu team by surprise, but also the rest of the paddock. As Joan Mir and Alex Rins have acknowledged, both were in negotiations with the Japanese manufacturer to extend their respective contracts, which expired in 2022. However, Suzuki’s slam automatically places them on the market, a circumstance that will surely endanger the position of more than one.
In this sense, the best positioned to sign for Honda seems to be Mir, who has already been in talks with the Tokyo manufacturer in the past. Puig once offered him a place in the LCR team with a view to the course of his debut in the heavy motorcycle category (2019). However, that offer did not convince the boy from Palma, who preferred to join Suzuki, who gave him an official GSX-RR, with which he was crowned champion in 2020.
On this occasion, everything seems to indicate that Mir would fit in as Marc Márquez’s partner in the official formation, given that the boy from Cervera (Lleida) is the only one with a contract still in force (expires in 2024). That, as is logical, would leave Pol Espargaró without a place there.
Without giving too many clues about how the bikes could be distributed, Puig claimed to have received the call from the agents of Mir and Rins, and to have started a dialogue that we will see how it will end.
“Mir and Rins contacted us and we have already had some conversations with them, because Honda always listens to the riders who ask,” acknowledged the executive, in statements to the official website of the championship.
“In any case,” added Puig , “Suzuki’s departure does not change our policy, our approach, at all. We already decided a long time ago that this year we would take it easy to analyze the situation [relating to the riders], and we would wait for a little more than usual before deciding.
