Joan Mir penalised after Catalunya MotoGP qualifying
Joan Mir receives a three-place grid penalty for the Catalunya MotoGP after impeding Jorge Martin.
Saturday at the Catalan MotoGP began brightly for Joan Mir, who surprised by putting his Honda on top of the timesheets in final practice.
But things swiftly went downhill for the 2020 world champion.
Despite his earlier pace, Mir failed to progress past Qualifying 1, leaving him just 17th on the grid.
And that will now become 20th for Sunday’s grand prix.
After the session, Mir was handed a three-place grid penalty for “riding slow online [and] disturbing another rider” at Turn 5 in Q1.
Aprilia’s reigning champion Jorge Martin, who finished directly behind Mir in 18th, was named as the rider disturbed by Mir’s actions.
The nature of Mir’s punishment was due to it being a first offence.
Johann Zarco qualified as the top Honda rider in seventh, with Mir’s team-mate Luca Marini starting from tenth.
This afternoon's Catalan MotoGP Sprint race starts at 3pm local time.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
