With Suzuki set for a shock MotoGP exit at the end of 2022, here’s a look at the impact it could have on the rider market and specifically 2020 world champion Joan Mir.
Suzuki boss Shinichi Sahara is hoping the team can bounce back in 2022 after suffering a winless 2021 MotoGP campaign; ‘This season was not the best season for us compared to last season. I think we need something extra to have a complete bike for the top’.
Joan Mir bitterly disapointed at being unable to fight the Ducatis in Sunday's Valencia MotoGP season finale, team-mate Alex Rins crashes for the sixth time.
Joan Mir is disappointed the 2021 MotoGP season will end after today’s Valencia Grand Prix due to finding recent improvements; ‘It’s a shame that the season is coming to an end. I feel really competitive. I’m able to be fast with new tyres and our pace is not bad’.
Despite crashing out of this season’s first Portimao race whilst battling MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo for the win, Alex Rins is ‘ready to try again, especially as our bike has improved since then’, while team-mate Joan Mir is aiming for another podium result.
Alex Rins’ early season crashes and faded hopes of a champioship challenge were ‘quite hard to accept’, however, a first podium of the season at Silverstone last time out has the Suzuki rider in good spirits as he returns to Aragon where he won in 2020.
Joan Mir describes his first ever flag-to-flag MotoGP race as a ‘really intense and crazy experience’, while Alex Rins misses out on a top ten result following an early pit stop.
Current MotoGP World Champion Joan Mir says riding in the wet at the Red Bull Ring is really ‘dangerous’, especially turn three; ‘turn three is so dangerous if you crash not alone. The truth is that I think it’s not enough the safety in the wet’
Alex Rins arrives at this weekend's Jerez MotoGP round with ‘great feeling’, as the Spanish rider is ‘fully fit’ unlike the Andalusian Grand Prix last year.
Alex Rins makes a statement at Portimao with second place during qualifying for the MotoGP Grand Prix of Portugal. Are time attack issues a thing of the past for Suzuki?
Alex Rins and Joan Mir head into round three of the 2021 MotoGP season separated by just one point and one position in the championship standings. 'Important to score points' says world champion Mir.
‘We have good pace and the machine to go on the front’, - Alex Rins looking to improve early race position, not leave as much work to be done for the final laps.
Last year's compressed 'Covid' MotoGP calendar, which saw 14 rounds in the space of four months, including the last nine races over eleven weekends, prompted renewed discussion of whether at least some race weekends should be reduced to just two days.