Malaysian MotoGP “one of the hardest races in my life” for “lucky” Joan Mir
Joan Mir says he was “lucky” to get a podium at the Malaysian MotoGP after “one of the hardest races in my life”.
A podium at the Malaysian MotoGP marked a 50 per cent return rate for Joan Mir during the grand prix paddock’s Asian tour, but he admits he got “lucky” to finish in the top-three.
Mir battled early on with one of the pre-race favourites, Fermin Aldeguer, before ultimately breaking clear of the Gresini rider – who went on to crash at turn 15 – before then passing Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo to make it up to fourth.
A retirement for Francesco Bagnaia, reportedly due to a puncture picked up on lap 13, on lap 18 then gave Mir the final spot on the podium which he didn’t relinquish before the finish.
Although he was making places almost throughout the Malaysian MotoGP, Joan Mir said that tyre management was the key to the race.
“It was probably one of the hardest races in my life, in terms of managing,” he told the post-race press conference.
“It’s true that we’ve been lucky with the problem of Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia], but this type of luck you have when you are fighting for it.
“I think that everything was tricky because when you follow somebody the temperature of the front tyre goes up, then you start to struggle to stop, you turn more with the rear, the tyre consumption goes up, and then you don’t arrive to the last part of the race with tyres.
“All the race was about that, thinking that all the time, trying to manage tyres, pressures, and trying to be fast.”
Even without the early battles, Mir couldn’t have done better than third, he said.
“The best position we could do today was this one because these two guys [Pedro Acosta and Alex Marquez, who finished first and second, respectively] had something more today, even that I had a bit of trouble in the first laps with more people because I was slightly more back in the first part of the race.
“The comeback was good, but even without comeback I didn’t have the pace of them.”
All riders chose the soft-compound rear tyre on Sunday. A choice of the medium option, which would have required less management, was simply not an option, Mir explained.
“I tried the medium [compound rear tyre] three times this weekend,” the Honda HRC Castrol rider said.
“I give again an opportunity this morning [Warm Up], and for our bike, I think for everyone, it was not working.
“So, we could not give a chance to that medium rear for this race.”
Mir now sits 15th in the MotoGP riders’ standings, 14 points ahead of Ai Ogura and 13 points behind Enea Bastianini, with two rounds to go in Portimao (7–9 November) and Valencia (14–16 November).
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