MotoGP Qatar J2 VIDEO: Joan Mir is not happy with Marc Marquez's attitude

Joan Mir hoped for much better than this eighth place on the starting grid for this Qatar Grand Prix which had until then revealed a Suzuki in much better shape than the previous version. However, when reading the qualifying results, we find the two GSX-RRs still far from pole position and still at the bottom of the top 10. A disappointment all the more bitter for the 2020 World Champion as it is accompanied by anger against Marc Marquez. The season of controversies on the track has begun…

Joan mir will not have excellent memories of this first qualification of the year which in no way confirmed a trend seen during free practice and wanting the Suzuki would have seriously raised their level of play. But for Joan mir, there were track conditions that disturbed him and a driver that annoyed him. For the first element, it is the wind. For the second, we talk about Marc Marquez...

Let’s close Éole’s file from the outset: “ the problem, it's that with the wind, I don't feel very well. I always lose something with the wind ". And he adds: “ I did Q2 alone and giving the wheel to Márquez and other people. I give aspiration because I'm stupid or generous, but I also have to learn from these situations ».

And it is precisely this story of aspiration with Marc Marquez which deeply annoyed Joan Mir. Between the two drivers, it all started with the first exit in Q2, a few seconds after the light turned green. Mir was the first driver to leave his pits, followed immediately by Marquez. At the exit of the pits, the factory driver Suzuki slows down and wants to let his opponent pass. However, Marquez also slowed down and did not want to overtake.

When Mir accelerated again, the pilot Honda took over and followed the man in front at every turn. Together, they began their first flying lap, Mir before, Marquez about a second behind. The latter was able to reduce the small gap more and more as the lap went on, so that he was directly in the slipstream during acceleration from start to finish.

Joan Mir: “If he touches me there, we have a problem”

Marc Marquez stayed there longer than usual. Only a few centimeters separated the two bikes when the 29-year-old Spaniard finally got out of the slipstream and overtook the Suzuki on the left. A maneuver that Mir Didn't like it at all: if he touches me there, we have a problem », thunders the 2020 world champion who had already rubbed shoulders last year with Marc Marquez because of similar behavior, at the time in qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix.

Last year Joan mir had also had trouble with Jack Miller. And for this year? “ I'll meet him, that's for sure. There's a good vibe with him, but we always clash, because he starts at the front and goes backwards and I start at the back and go forward. There are always clashes, but he's a good guy ". A newfound good humor which allows the pilot Suzuki to conclude : " we have more speed, that’s clear. We are more competitive and that's it. It's not a trauma to start eighth either ».

MotoGP Qatar J2: Qualifying

Credit classification motogp.com