Joan Mir qualified in eighth position on Saturday in Argentina, and will try to approach the podium in the race in order to finally launch his season. The 2020 World Champion answered journalists' questions at the end of the qualifying session, and we transcribe his entire remarks here.
Joan, how was this first day of competition in Argentina?
«
Overall we had a pretty good Saturday here in Argentina. I had pretty good feelings, and I must say that our base is pretty good. At the end of FP2 we realized that I was having difficulty with the rear grip, and so we tried to improve on that for qualifying, but at that time the bike didn't work. wanted to start. I think that if I had started with my first bike I could have had an even better time than with the second, which was more standard. It's a shame, but anyway I couldn't fight for pole position today, because we're still quite far away at the moment. But we will continue to progress, particularly in view of the race where the choice of tires will once again prove decisive. We are currently hesitating between soft and medium. As far as pace goes we should be right there though. »
How do you judge the condition of the track? It seemed to be very dirty during FP1, not to mention the presence of numerous bumps, particularly in turn 11…
« The track was not in such bad condition during FP1, because normally here it is much dirtier during the first day, even if it is obvious that the passage of the moto2s and moto3s allows for a first sweeping the track before we take action. I also noticed that the times were pretty good straight away during FP1 of Moto3, so I suppose that in terms of the condition of the track it was pretty good. Concerning the bumps, I must say that there are a lot of them at the exit of turn 3, which conditions the long straight. They are not everywhere, but in some places the bumps are really imposing. That doesn't make things easy, but after what we saw last year in Austin we can put things into perspective! In the end I was able to cope with it more or less well, so I'm happy. »
You almost hit a bird on the trail...
« Yes, it came close!
»
What happened with the bike at the start of qualifying?
« The reason the bike wouldn't start was electrical. But this has been resolved. »
There was a lot of traffic on track at the end of free practice and the qualifying session, which certainly created some heated moments. Do you think this is a topic that needs to be discussed among drivers?
« There's always traffic at these times, and that's why I wanted to hit the track a little later. There can always be dangerous accidents because of this, and so I think as a MotoGP rider we indeed need to think about it more. »
Do you feel ready to take part in the race given that you have only ridden for one day?
« It's the same for everyone, so yes I feel ready. The work done on Saturday evening is even more important because ultimately we only have one evening to really work on the bike. We are not far from having competitive settings. The fact of reducing the GP to two days was not such a bad thing, although it is true that the Moto3 riders entered the track really too early, because if we do the same thing on certain tracks in Europe it will be too cold at that time. Conversely, we really finished Q2 very late, the sun was starting to get low on the horizon, and that was starting to affect visibility. »
