2023-09-04 18:53:32
Absolutely disastrous weekend for Joan Mir in his home race. The Spaniard was unable to scratch a single point in the last round of the Catalunya Grand Prixkeeping in his locker the five points he scored in the opening race at Portimao, the first and last time the #36 has been able to finish in the points zone with Honda.
Joan finished last in practice on Friday, repeated that position in the Sprint Race on Saturday -21st- and once again he was the last driver to cross the finish line on Sunday -21st again-, behind Iker Lecuona (19th) and Takaaki Nakagami (20th), with Marc Márquez being the only driver from the brand with the golden wing to score points in the main event in Montmeló.
Questioned about his discreet career in Montmeló, Mir acknowledged that “It was a terrible wind, we have noticed a lot during the race. For a moment I thought they were going to stop the race. With this aerodynamics it was quite difficult for me, because the wind blew in gusts, and sometimes it took you off the line”.
The Honda man gained three positions before reaching lap ten, but from then on his tires shredded and he lost all the lost ground: “The second start didn’t go so well for me, I started to overtake the riders in front of me, and it seemed like I was going ahead, but suddenly the rubber started to drop as it has in my life. In the last few laps the tire was destroyed, he couldn’t be on the bike. In the last lap I did a 45, and with the Moto3 I did 47 or 48, imagine”.
This excessive tire wear and his lack of speed in Catalonia “It is the reflection of what I say”, argues Mir, “from this lack of connection with electronics and maps, we have to improve it a lot. I’m trying to finish races. Here I tried to finish the race, yesterday too. When I see that I don’t have the chance to do so, I simply try to bring the bike to the box, give the correct information and thus continue to grow”.
MotoGP will travel tirelessly to Misano to celebrate the San Marino Grand Prix in five days, an appointment in which Mir hopes to improve his sensations thanks to a layout that should help the riders of the Japanese brand: “Misano is a different circuit, more stop and go, perhaps more like Austriawith more grip, worse than this one will not go”trust #36.
Joan was also asked about the incident that occurred at turn 1 in Montmeló when Enea Bastianini started a strike that ended up also knocking out Johann Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Álex Márquez and Marco Bezzecchi. In this regard, the Spaniard commented that “The departure thing, the same thing happens here every year. Normally we arrive in fourth or third to the first corner on other tracks, and here we do it in fifth very plugged in, with the bikes lowered by the ‘devices’, and with the issue of the wings in front it is not noticeable but behind… when the others brake, if you pass you have no room for manoeuvre, you go against them and it is delicate. This will continue to happen year after year if we don’t talk about it.”
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Mir believes that the solution to this problem is difficult, although he believes that “There are two things that might help, the first is to delay the start line a bit, and the second would be to remove the wings and forget about the height devices and all that. this would be important“added the Repsol Honda rider, who described it as “highly questionable” the Long Lap Penalty that Bastianini received and that the Italian must comply with the next time he returns to the competition.
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