Joan Mir ended this Indonesian Grand Prix in the same way as many others this season, with a crash. The kind of epilogue that a Honda driver must expect when he takes to the track with an RC213V, even if his name is Marc Marquez who did not do better than his teammate at Mandalika. The fact remains that, unlike the one who will leave the official Repsol box at the end of this season, the Mallorcan saw a positive thing before his accident. Because imagine that at one point, in the competition, he found himself riding in the same times as Jorge Marin and Pecco Bagnaia. However, he cannot explain the reason, since he is driving the 2023 version of the Honda, the 2024 evolution having been abandoned...
When taking stock of this Indonesian Grand Prix, Joan mir delivers this feeling which deserves reflection: “ I fell, so of course the result is a disaster, but I saw potential. I was able to drive fast. Not for many laps, but quickly ". At first glance, it might seem like a dialogue straight out of a “Joe Bar Team” opus, but the 2020 MotoGP World Champion with Suzuki is very serious: “ I started doing laps in mid-31 in part of the race. And if you check, the only one who had better lap times, by a few tenths, was race leader Jorge Martin ».
Indeed, Joan mir jumped from his nineteenth place on the grid to eleventh before having trouble with Franco Morbidelli who ruined his efforts. But, from the 8th to the 11th lap, just before his fall, the official Honda achieved times between 1'31,5 and 31"6. During this time, George Martin ran between 1'31,0 and 31,4 s, and the future winner Pecco Bagnaia set times ranging from 1'31,3 to 31,5 s.
Joan Mir: “ with the huge fairings, the wind will be a challenge for everyone at Phillip Island »
« So that was a good improvement. », insists Mir that holds the top spot. " I'm quite happy with it. But it is also true that we are very, very on the razor's edge and the fall is what it is. I'm disappointed not to be able to finish the race. But we learned something positive from this race. We really need to focus on this ". Certainly, but he also specifies: “ we are riding the same bike as at the start of the season. So we can't do miracles with this bike.. Tracks like Mandalika are probably the worst for our package ».
A remark which leads him to look ahead to the events still to be done this season, including this weekend… “ Maybe if we go to the tracks with more stop-and-go, we will struggle less, like in Motegi or in India. But in Malaysia we will fight the same way. Phillip Island? Normally the hot temperature for our motorcycle is not very good. We skate a lot. So in Australia, we won't have this problem! It's true that the track is a challenge for every driver, especially because we only go there once a year ».
He finishes : " with the huge fairings, the wind will be a challenge for everyone. With the wake and everything it's going to be intense shopping there! But yes, I will try to score points and achieve the result because after India I think we took a step forward, and in Indonesia I was able to ride fast ».
MotoGP race results Indonesia GP
MotoGP General Ranking
Credit classification motogp.com
