Joan Mir is one of the hot young talents in motorcycle racing right now and is majorly sought after by factory teams in MotoGP for 2019. He is currently racing in Moto2 for Marc VDS Honda and just earlier this week signed a pre-contract with Honda which looked like he would potentially replace Dani Pedrosa at Repsol Honda next year.

However, this pre-contract expired yesterday, and Honda decided not to take action upon this which means Mir’s chances for a ride at Repsol Honda next year are slim as Pedrosa is likely to stay at the team for another year.

Now that a move to Repsol Honda is out of the window, for now, it opens up for the other factory teams interested in the young Spaniard.

Suzuki and Ducati are both interested in signing the current Moto2 rider.

Earlier in the week when asked about Mir’s future, his manager Paco Sanchez said: “He wants to move to MotoGP with a good team, a good bike. This is the objective. But we need to close [a deal]. It's not easy because there are some really big names still in play - Jorge, Dani, Andrea - and only a few good bikes.

“He is near the top of the list of all these three factories. We hope to close [an agreement] as soon as possible.”

Suzuki look to be in pole position to sign Mir up for next season alongside fellow countryman Alex Rins with Andrea Iannone’s future still uncertain at the team.

Suzuki team manager Davide Brivio commented on the situation and said: “We have two ways to see our rider line-up for next year: We can go for an experienced rider or maybe again for a young rider.”

Mir spent three years in the Moto3 championship and became World Champion in 2017 before moving up to Moto2 this season with Marc VDS alongside Alex Marquez. Despite only racing five rounds so far in Moto2, the 20-year-old feels like he is ready for a move up to the premier class next season.