Luca Marini and Joan Mir say they would be delighted if Honda lost the best of MotoGP’s concessions next year, despite the potential impact on the RC213V’s development.
Honda, along with Yamaha, is currently ranked in Group D under MotoGP’s revived concession system, which provides struggling manufacturers with additional benefits in areas such as testing, engine usage and wildcard entries.
The Sakura-based manufacturer has taken full advantage of these allowances to drag itself out of its worst slump in MotoGP history, scoring victory in the rain-hit French GP and dry-weather podiums at Silverstone, Motegi and Sepang.
The Sakura-based manufacturer has taken full advantage of these allowances to drag itself out of its worst slump in MotoGP history, scoring victory in the rain-hit French GP and dry-weather podiums at Silverstone, Motegi and Sepang.
However, this has also had an knock-on effect, with Honda on the brink of losing Group D concessions for the 2026 season. If it scores just nine more points in this weekend’s Valencia finale, it will end up in the same tier as KTM and Aprilia next year.
However, Marini insists that Honda had actually set a goal of moving out of Group D at the end of the year, highlighting that the extensive testing allowances also place additional demands on riders.
“It's fantastic. This is a target that we have had since half-season,” said the Italian. “From mid-season, we saw that it could be possible to change the rank and everybody was pushing so hard to achieve this.
“Also, for us as factory riders, to have fewer events would be nice, because in these two years we used so much energy out of the GPs, and it's not easy.
