Joan Mir explains theory after luckless streak continues with Alex Marquez clash
After qualifying a season-best fifth, Joan Mir’s Czech MotoGP ended in the gravel after being hit by Alex Marquez - thinks Honda’s straight-line deficit is leaving him exposed to lunges.
Joan Mir goes into the MotoGP summer break with a shocking tally of eight DNFs out of the twelve Grand Prix races.
His Sprint record features another four retirements, while Mir’s overall MotoGP weekend crash count puts the 2020 world champion top of the fallers list alongside Johann Zarco, with 15 each.
But while Zarco has reached the chequered flag in 18 of the 24 races and scored 109 points, including a win at Le Mans and podium at Silverstone, Mir has a 50/50 record of 12 race finishes and just 32 points.
The most frustrating factor for Mir is that he’s often been the fastest Honda, including qualifying a season-best fifth on the grid at Brno this weekend.
But, for the fifth time this season, and third weekend in a row, he left without a single point from either race.
Problems at the start of the Sprint, then issues bringing the rear tyre up to temperature, left Mir last in the Saturday Sprint.
Worse was to follow in the grand prix, when he settled into an early sixth, only to be taken out by Alex Marquez on lap 2.
“I made a good start to the race and was there with the leading group in the first laps,” Mir said.
“I was confident in my pace and had everything under control early in the race. Alex had tried to overtake me a couple of times earlier in the lap and I had already felt some contacts in the rear.
“Then in the chicane he lost the front, and he touched me, and I finished on the ground. There’s nothing more to say about it.”
Mir had been seen in a heated discussion with Alex Marquez after the incident, for which the Gresini Ducati rider apologised.
“I’m sorry for Mir, it was obviously an unwanted incident," he said. "This is a mistake we can learn from, we need to be more patient in a weekend where things don’t go as well as expected. “
The FIM Stewards have handed Marquez a long lap penalty for the next grand prix.
“I don’t believe in bad luck”
Mir suspects one of the reasons he ends up on the receiving end of so many incidents is that the RCV’s lack of top speed encourages rivals to attack, but they are then caught out by how strong he is on the brakes.
“I don’t believe in bad luck,” Mir said. “I think we are in a situation where we are fighting against other bikes that go another 5-10k faster on the straight.
“So they catch up and think they can overtake in the braking area. Then I always brake strong, because it’s where I can recover time, but they are optimistic, release the brakes and this happens.
“This has been happening in the last races, something similar again today and will happen again in the future if we don’t make a step.
“The best way to avoid situations like this is to be faster, this is what we have to work on as a team.”
Team-mate Luca Marini went on to finish as the top Honda in 12th with Zarco 13th.
Zarco goes into the summer break eighth in the world championship, followed by Marini in 15th and Mir in just 19th.
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