Joan Mir left the Qatar Grand Prix with the certainty of a job well done this winter in the Suzuki workshops but with all the same this doubt born from the weakness of his GSX-RR which appeared at the end of the race which was nevertheless his favorite moment so far. And then there were also qualifications which were ultimately as difficult as in 2021. The one who declared to be in favor of renewing his lease with the Hamamatsu manufacturer looks back on this first meeting of a season which has yet revealed any of its secrets...
Despite a higher top speed and an overall easier bike to ride according to Joan mir, the 2020 MotoGP world champion, did not really shine with his Suzuki au Qatar. To be honest, and despite the potential displayed during the first free practices at Losail, he was unable to fight for victory and even gave the impression of delivering a performance that seemed like déjà vu.
Before Sunday's race, Mir and his teammate alex rins appeared to have the best race pace of the entire field, however, a tough qualifying session, one more, left the pair in eighth and tenth place on the timesheets. After a brilliant start which saw Mir gain four places in the first lap, the driver Suzuki did not advance any further, on the contrary losing two places at the end of the course.
Speaking after practice on Friday, Mir was convinced that the team was in a better position despite the fact that the 2022 GSX-RR was not a "revolution", but an "evolution" of last season's package. The Majorcan says in fact: “ Honda and Ducati completely changed the engine. In our case, it's not like that. The character of the motorcycle is the same. Now we have just a little more power and this does not complicate our life when changing direction or in the middle of turns because the power delivered is really similar. As I said, it was not a revolution but it was a clear evolution, especially at high revs ».
“In addition, we use the attitude corrector which we did not use before. Last year we could see that it was really difficult here, and we improved the top speed ». One last point which remains the major effect: the Suzukis finished the first day at Lusail with a recorded speed of 355,7 km/h. “ I rode in the wake of the other bikes throughout the race. Last year, I couldn't keep up despite the aspiration. It's possible now. We took the first step with this”, praised the 2020 MotoGP champion on the work of Suzuki engineers. I'm very happy because I was able to overtake the Aprilias in the straight He adds. " This makes me really happy. A year ago, this was unimaginable for us. We were able to observe that we are now on equal footing in terms of top speed ».
Satisfaction but also a question at Joan Mir
So the Japanese manufacturer seems to have a bike that does everything right, like handling, cornering, braking and acceleration, so a bike that can definitely win races. But there are still things to do and evaluate. So, to avoid putting too much strain on the tires, or letting yourself get too carried away in terms of overtaking, better qualification is necessary, as in 2021, and on this level, there has been no progress.
It also remains to be seen if their lack of race pace at the end of the Qatar Grand Prix, something that has always been a strength of Joan mir et Suzuki, was punctual or if more engine power made it more difficult to preserve the tires. Joan Mir finished sixth at the Qatar Grand Prix, was 4,8 seconds behind the winner Enea Bastianini on the Ducati GP21 Gresini. During the race he had the opportunity to intensively study his opponents' motorcycles. And he noticed one shortcoming of the 2022 Suzuki in particular… “ Compared to other drivers, I had grip problems on the rear wheel. We need to work more intensively on this », warns Mir on crash.net. " I felt it both when accelerating and entering the corner. My rear wheel was spinning. This was not the case for the other drivers ". To be continued at the next meeting in Indonesia from March 18 to 20…
