Repsol Honda has formally confirmed Joan Mir will join its team on a two-year contract for the 2023 and 2024 MotoGP World Championship.
The deal – which has been strongly speculated for some months – will see Mir switch to the factory Honda squad from Suzuki, which is exiting the premier class at the end of the season.
While he remains one of the younger, less experienced riders on the MotoGP grid, Mir made history by clinching a shock MotoGP World Championship title in 2020 with a campaign built on the foundation of consistency during a truncated COVID-19 affected season.
Securing Suzuki’s first World Championship title in 20 years, Mir took the crown in only his second season of MotoGP despite achieving just a single win en route.
That win – in Valencia – remains his one and only victory in MotoGP across almost four seasons, though he backed his title up with a strong run to third overall in 2021 with a further six podium results.
However, Mir has struggled for form this year, particularly since news of Suzuki’s impending withdrawal broke during the Spanish MotoGP weekend in May, with six DNFs from the last nine races.
Nonetheless, Mir remains a savvy choice for Repsol Honda, which had been seeking a reliable pair of hands on his bike alongside six-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez in light of his injury woes.
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The Spaniard is currently on the sidelines having undergone surgery on his troublesome shoulder, the legacy of his Spanish MotoGP accident at the start of the 2020 MotoGP season that has hampered him since.
Mir wants to follow the path traveled by his current Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins, who also joins Honda in the LCR set-up.
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