MotoGP stewards issue crash verdict on Joan Mir after Valencia sprint tangle
The FIM MotoGP stewards have punished Joan Mir for his collision with Luca Marini
MotoGP’s FIM stewards panel has dished out a penalty to Joan Mir following his tangle with team-mate Luca Marini in the Valencia Grand Prix sprint.
The 2020 world champion was trying to recover from a bad start from 10th on the grid when he went for an overtake on lap two of the sprint on Honda team-mate Luca Marini.
Joan Mir locked the front-end of his bike as he moved on Marini’s inside and crashed, while also wiping the Italian out of the sprint.
The stewards placed the incident under investigation and have awarded Mir a long lap penalty to be served in his next grand prix, which is due to be Sunday’s Valencia finale.
This is Mir’s first offence of the season.
This judgement comes barely an hour after the Honda rider told the media in the Valencia paddock that he wasn’t “worried” about receiving a penalty, as “nobody will overtake” if he does.
“Probably Simon [Crafar] will make me go, I’m sure,” he said.
“But I’m not very worried. This is the reality, but what happened is what I said to you.
“It’s not like this was a corner nobody overtakes in. I lost the front for this, and, unluckily I hit Luca. I think if they penalise this, nobody will overtake.”
Mir’s long lap will come as a blow to Honda, who needs to score nine points on Sunday to lift itself into a new concession rank.
While this will see it lose numerous benefits, such as free engine development and testing, Mir said on Saturday: “Everyone in the team doesn’t want these concessions.”
The next-highest Honda on the grid behind Mir is LCR’s Johann Zarco who will go from 11th on Sunday.
The No.36 isn’t the only rider who will have to visit the long lap loop on Sunday, after the stewards issued Aprilia’s Jorge Martin with a double long lap prior to the start of the weekend.
This was for the collision with Marco Bezzecchi on the opening lap of the Motegi sprint that left Martin with a displaced collarbone fracture, and which forced him onto the sidelines until this weekend.
