Joan Mir continues to struggle with Honda’s top speed in Argentina, even though he managed to break into the top 10 for the second time since leaving Suzuki.

Mir had his best weekend since India in 2023. In Argentina, he finished 8th in the Sprint race and 9th in the main race. However, he believes he could have done better, especially since Johann Zarco was closer to the podium while riding the same bike.

Despite making progress, Mir found himself at a disadvantage on the straights, making it hard to defend his position. While both he and Zarco were mid-pack in the weekend’s top speed rankings, Mir was notably slower in sessions where he couldn’t use a slipstream, losing around 8 km/h overall.

This lack of speed left him vulnerable during the race. After holding his eighth place early on, he was later overtaken by rookie Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta. For the rest of the race, he battled with Acosta, finishing just a tenth of a second behind him. However, he was later promoted to ninth place after Ogura’s disqualification.

When speaking to MotoGP.com, Mir admitted that while he sees improvement, the race was frustrating.

“For sure, I see some progress, but the race was really tough. I spent the whole time fighting the KTM, which has a much faster engine than ours. To hold my position, I had to push hard on the brakes, and that overheated the front. Honestly, it was a huge challenge just to finish the race.”

Mir acknowledged that Honda has more potential, but for now, defending against faster bikes remains difficult. “Every time I got to the straight, the rider behind would overtake me. We need to figure out how to improve in these situations. The good thing is that I can fight this year, but as a rider, I always want more.”

While Zarco secured Honda’s best finish since Marc Márquez left, his teammate Luca Marini also showed signs of improvement.

Marini, who dropped to 15th on the first lap, fought his way back to finish just behind Mir, marking his best finish yet. He was later promoted into the top ten after Ogura’s disqualification.

“My pace at the end was really good. We made a big step with the bike’s setup compared to yesterday,” Marini said. “The team did a great job. It’s a pity that Miller had a slide at the start, which forced me to change my trajectory and lose time. But I was able to close almost four seconds on Mir after overtaking many riders. Unfortunately, I had no tires left at the end to try and pass him.”

Despite the challenges, Marini remains optimistic: “This was a good weekend. We need to improve in qualifying to avoid starting so far back, but I’m happy with our work.”

Currently, Zarco leads as the top Honda rider in the standings, sitting in fifth place. Meanwhile, Mir and Marini are now 11th and 12th.

So while Honda still struggles with top speed, their riders are proving they can fight for better results.