Joan Mir saw his sprint race compromised from the start and was forced to abandon after three laps due to a technical problem.
Joan mir has once again added a DNF to his season, his 17th in 41 races. However, the Spanish driver did not make a mistake, nor was he hit by a competitor, as has happened to him on several occasions. He simply suffered a technical problem with his RC213V.
However, the day had started rather well after his direct qualification in Q2 yesterdayHe started strongly, securing a third place in FP2 and then a seventh place on the starting grid. He seemed to be continuing the same momentum as in the last few Grands Prix of the overseas tour, but his race ended very quickly.
He indeed plummeted down the standings at the start, spending the first lap in 17th place. Despite gaining a position on the following lap, he could only observe a growing problem with his machine and ultimately retired at the end of the third lap due to his clutch. Despite the frustration of having missed out on a potentially good result and valuable information for tomorrow's race, Mir remained positive when debriefing his day.
“I had a clutch problem right from the start, and I can’t tell you much more because I don’t have any further information. The bike didn’t accelerate as it should have. I think I lost 12 places at the start. I quickly realized what was happening. My start was a disaster, and of course, the problem only got worse. The bike wasn’t accelerating when shifting gears either.”, did he declare.
“I think we could have had an opportunity to achieve another good result, but it wasn’t possible. The day was positive for us; we just had some difficulties in qualifying due to the conditions, quite simply. When you drive in the rain in the morning, it washes away the rubber residue, and that doesn’t work in our favor. A bit more grip for the time attack would certainly have been beneficial, but oh well, that’s how it is. Nevertheless, I think starting seventh isn’t a bad result, and with a good start, we would have achieved our objective, which was a top-six finish.”
"The problem when you don't finish a sprint race is that it doesn't give you any information for Sunday. We have to rely on the other Honda riders, on what they were able to do and how it went for them."
Results of the sprint race of the Portuguese Grand Prix :
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
