Joan Mir does not see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the nightmare continues in Malaysia. While he frequently dominated his teammate Luca Marini at the start of the season, the trend has completely reversed in recent times. The Italian, much more diligent in his information gathering, finishes races, remains consistent and scores points: the complete opposite of the 2020 MotoGP world champion. Mir is far from his glory days, but there is hope at Honda given the recent progress revealed by Johann Zarco.
It is difficult to be satisfied with such a result when you are a double Grand Prix world champion. And yet, Joan Mir only finished this Sprint in 16th place, after qualifying 20th. "Today there has been some progress, I know we fought and lost a lot in qualifying, but in the Sprint we managed to recover something. We changed some things on the bike to ride more naturally, which also helped." he confided.
Time to do some Qualifying. ✊💨 pic.twitter.com/LmCNkDh6pD
- Repsol Honda Team (@HRC_MotoGP) November 2, 2024
It is true that he has gained a few places, but it remains quite insignificant in this part of the ranking. « I had a good start but then I got stuck in traffic and then in turn 4 someone's wing hit me so I had to get up » he continued. In addition to being severely penalized by a failed Q1, the risk of starting at the back of the pack is to find yourself involved in all kinds of clashes.
However, the Spaniard is looking to the positive and wants to believe in an improvement. “The first rounds were quite difficult, but then we found our rhythm and were quite competitive from halfway through the race" he concluded, without being able to say anything else.
What did you think of Joan Mir's season so far? Tell us in the comments!
2024 Malaysian Grand Prix Sprint Result:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport
