Joan Mir's two-and-a-half-season Honda contract is heading for an early exit, with the 2020 MotoGP world champion now expected to line up on a Gresini Racing Ducati for 2027. The shift was set in motion at the Jerez round earlier this year, according to the Spanish rider's manager Paco Sanchez, who confirmed the decision in comments to Crash.net during the Catalan Grand Prix weekend.
"Given the lack of news from HRC regarding his future, Joan decided in Jerez to leave Honda at the end of the year and asked me to look for a good project for him," Sanchez said. He added: "The only thing that is certain is that Joan will not be a Honda rider in 2027."
The move ends a partnership that began in 2023 when Mir replaced Andrea Dovizioso at the factory HRC squad and which had been signed off through to the end of next season. Honda's 2026 RC213V has shown clear gains under technical chief Romano Albesiano, with Mir himself describing the bike as the best package he had ridden in his Repsol Honda era. But results have been slow, the new generation of Marc Marquez-style Hondas remain trailing the Ducati and Aprilia benchmarks, and the silence on a renewal beyond 2026 was enough to push the rider towards an exit.
Gresini's interest is already practical rather than theoretical. The Italian satellite squad needs to replace Fermin Aldeguer alongside Alex Marquez for 2027, with Aldeguer set to switch across to VR46 as part of the wider Ducati family reshuffle. Mir's experience as a former world champion, his Spanish marketability and his existing relationship with the Ducati GP24/25 platform - the same machinery that propelled Marquez and Aldeguer to multiple podiums in 2026 - has put him at the front of the queue.
A potential bonus sweetener is on the technical side. Frankie Carchedi, the crew chief who guided Mir to his 2020 world title at Suzuki, now works at Gresini and could be reunited with the Spaniard if the deal is signed off. Carchedi has been credited with a quiet but significant role in Aldeguer's rookie progression, and a reunion with Mir would mean stepping back to a former championship partnership without leaving the Faenza-based team.
For Honda, the timing is awkward. HRC president Koji Watanabe described Mir at his 2025 contract extension as someone he was "very happy to be able to compete in MotoGP with for two years from 2025", but the Japanese manufacturer has been openly hunting for star names for 2027, with talks reportedly opened with Marco Bezzecchi and at least one of the current Aprilia line-up. The factory now needs to find a Mir replacement before the technical reset year while also stabilising the development direction around new signing Diogo Moreira.
The Gresini deal, if it lands as expected before the August summer break, would also represent a quiet vindication for the 2020 champion. Mir has been written off in some Spanish paddock corners since his Suzuki years, but a competitive Ducati for 2027 - the year a new technical regulation set is supposed to compress the grid - puts him squarely back in the conversation for race wins.
