On 8 November 2020, Joan Mir, who started from fifth position on the starting grid, won the European Grand Prix, held at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia. For the Majorcan, that was his first MotoGP victory and the reward for the consistency of a season in which he had shown himself extremely solid, to the point of becoming world champion a week later, on November 15th, on that same track.
It took the Suzuki rider 29 races to take his first triumph in the premier class and everything suggested that, once he reached his goal, the following victories would come more regularly. However, the reality is that today he has not been on the top step of the podium for more than a year. Mir spoke to Motorsport.con about it in an exclusive interview during the Portuguese Grand Prix, in which he returned to the podium with a second position.
“It’s hard for me, I’m not going to lie. I expect a lot from myself, I’m not always happy to just get on the podium. I’m someone who likes to win and this situation is weighing on me a lot “, says Mir, who in addition to second place in Portimao, this year finished second in the Styrian Grand Prix and took third position in Portugal, Italy, in Holland and Aragon.
Joan Mir, Suzuki MotoGP Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Waiting to know what will happen this weekend in Valencia, right where he conquered his first and only success in MotoGP, Mir boasts this year six podiums in 17 races, while last season he managed to get on the podium seven times in 14. grand prix.
The Majorcan reflects on his path: “Last year was my second season in MotoGP, I started to go fast, a victory came and the end of the season and it could have been more. But then you get to a certain point where you tell yourself it’s your third season and you need to improve. I am in this phase, I have been racing in the world championship for a short time and I arrived in MotoGP very quickly, this means that I still have room for improvement ”.
In his first year in the premier class, his best result was a fifth place at the Austraian Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the season: “In the year of my debut I struggled a lot, but the truth is that I had only raced for four years. in the world championship, counting all the classes. Now I have six of them behind me, I am still a rookie and I have room to improve. But what we did this year was far from what I expected. Going a year without winning is hard to digest and I’m not living it very well ”.
Joan Mir, Suzuki MotoGP Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
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