MotoGP 2024 Race Round 18 Thailand Grand Prix
Buriram, October 29, 2024: The first fully wet MotoGP race of the season produced an exciting 26-laps as battles up and down the field went to the wire, Luca Marini earns another 12th and Joan Mir makes it another double-point scoring finish in 15th.
Persistent rain across the day saw in the first wet MotoGP race in almost a year. Damp Warm Up saw Luca Marini thrive as he finished the 10-minute session in third, immediately looking strong in the tricky conditions of Buriram. The following hours saw the weather dance between parting clouds and further showers, before the weather settled and the race was declared wet.
With his confidence buoyed by his Warm Up result, Luca Marini was eager to make progress when the lights went out, immediately pursuing his teammate. A string of steady laps brought the #10 into the points and closer to his fellow Honda riders on the edge of the top ten. Tricky conditions caught out a number of riders, but Marini had everything under control as he climbed higher and higher. Crossing the line 12th place, the Italian equals his best result of the year and makes it three-point scoring finishes in a row. Both his development as a rider and development of the Honda RC213V machine are clear to see in his consistent improvements.
An impressive start from Joan Mir once again saw him charge towards the top ten from 19th and settle into an intense battle with the likes of Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, Johann Zarco and Augusto Fernandez. During the middle stage of the race, Mir’s feeling with the Honda RC213V began to change and he was unable to match the pace he had shown earlier. His situation was further complicated by contact with Marc Marquez which sent the #36 into the long lap zone. Even in face of the hardships, Mir walks away with another point.
The end of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship season is now in sight, just two more stops left on the calendar. Malaysia, the scene of the first test of the year, comes the very next week to round out the triple-header.
Luca Marini (12th)
“I enjoyed Warm Up and the race a lot. Conditions were super complicated and there were a lot of points where you had to risk crashing. Even in these tricky conditions I was quite fast, but with how slippery it was on track it was quite difficult to overtake so I was behind several riders for a bit too long. It was really fun to battle with Mir and Zarco for most of the race. A satisfactory race to save the weekend after a really challenging Saturday. Now two more chances to make some more progress before the next season starts.”
Joan Mir (15th)
“The first half of our race was really good, I felt strong, and I was able to do more or less as I wanted. In the second half the feeling changed, and we lost a lot of ground, as a team we need to look at what happened to understand and improve for next time because if we continued the race like we started it, I really think a top ten was possible today. Overall, our weekend has had a lot of positives, and I think we deserved more than just a single point. I am looking forward to arriving in Malaysia and having the possibility to show our potential again.”