Joan Mir is ranked in the top 5 of championnat after the first three Grands Prix of the 2021 MotoGP season. However, he is already 23 points behind the leader and official Yamaha Quartararo with only one podium to his credit, acquired during the last meeting in Portugal. This is called limiting the damage for a reigning World Champion who knows he is obliged, from now on, to raise his level of play. The Suzuki rider therefore announces the objective of being on the podium in each race. This weekend's Spanish Grand Prix is obviously on the list.
Joan mir continues to do what he does best MotoGP, i.e. solid comebacks starting from the middle of the starting grid. At Portugal, he started from the third row to take the third step of the podium in Portimao. It was the first podium of the year for the reigning World Champion. And given the tight level of competition this year, it was about time.
The official Suzuki knows that he can no longer be satisfied with accessit. He must take his subscription in the leading trio at the end of each race. An ambition clearly displayed on the eve of the meeting with the route of Jerez this week-end : " I was really happy to be on the podium in Portugal, and I want to match this result and improve it » announces the Majorcan. “ My goal is to be in the top three in every race if possible! ».
During his three MotoGP seasons, Mir has not yet reached the podium Jerez. He only has a fifth place as his best result so far. It was at the Andalusian Grand Prix last year. However, Mir believes the GSX-RR has the potential to be “ forte", even if the competition this year is " higher than usual"
Between Joan Mir and Jerez it's not crazy love
« Here in Jerez I think our bike can be strong, and it's a circuit that I really like, but I also expect the level of competition to be really high, and even higher than usual . Because all the drivers know this circuit very well and in general the level is extremely high this year » analyzes the teammatealex rins who fell during the last Grand Prix in Portugal.
Between Joan mir et Jerez, it's not the honeymoon. He won the second Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup race at Jerez in 2014, then raced there twice in Moto3 in 2016 and 2017. His best result was P3 in 2017. He qualified and finished P6 in 2016. In 2018, Mir started from sixth place as the best rookie rider on the Moto2 grid and finished the race in 11th position.
2019 was Mir's first race at Jerez on a MotoGP, he went straight into Q2 for the second time in his rookie season and qualified in 12th position. He crashed during the race at turn 13 with five laps to go while in ninth position. At the 2020 Spanish GP, Mir qualified in 12th position but crashed on the second lap while in 13th. At the Andalusian GP he finished fifth for his second MotoGP top 5 at the time, with Australia 2019.
