‘He did a fantastic race’: Joan Mir gains praise for “strange” Brno MotoGP strategy

Joan Mir has gained the praise of Luca Marini for his “strange” choice of the soft-compound rear tyre in the Brno MotoGP race.

Mir was the only rider to use the soft-compound rear tyre in the 21-lap Brno race, which came after a 10-lap Sprint in which several riders opted for the medium-compound, although the Saturday race was ultimately won by Francesco Bagnaia with the soft.

Despite the odd-ball tyre choice, the Honda HRC Castrol rider earned the compliments of his team-mate, Luca Marini, after the race for finishing fifth with a tyre that the Italian – who finished eighth and almost 10 seconds behind Mir – suggested afterwards was a risk.

“I'm satisfied about my pace,” said Luca Marini after the Brno race.

“I push every lap at 100 per cent and I recover many positions. I did some good overtakes and we improved the bike compared yesterday and especially with the medium rear we didn't have any vibration, so I could ride well. 

“But Joan [Mir] did a really strange choice to put the soft [compound rear tyre] today, but it looks like that he didn't have vibration, so he was doing a fantastic race with very good pace at the beginning and he managed the rear tyre very well. 

“Congratulations to him because he achieved a really good position.”

Joan Mir himself was pleased with the result, his best of the season in the final classification since his Barcelona podium was taken away for a tyre pressure penalty.

“I'm happy because today I got the package to fight for something interesting, and I gave 100 per cent and this normally translates to a good result,” Mir said.

“So, I'm happy for it. I want to thank the team because they did a great job during this weekend, even though [in] qualifying [...] I could not perform as I probably wished. 

“I knew that I had something more to perform like this in the races. 

“I believed a bit in myself, and finally we could put a top-five realistic result, despite the only one that made a mistake that was not real was Acosta, that he had a technical problem, I don't know, but he stopped. 

“But apart from that it was a real sixth, fifth position, and that is something to be happy about. 

“In Montmelo I could make the podium, but also more riders crashed, and here this top-five is a little bit the same performance as there, but with more riders on the grid. So, this is realistically what we can do. 

“I can’t do more at the moment, but I really wish that I can perform like this more often, because we have to find this consistency.”

Mir explained that the soft rear tyre allowed him to better exploit his own riding style than the medium by attacking the entry of the corners.

“Obviously it's easy to say this when at the end everything went right, but for me the thing is that, compared to the style of the rider, it matches one thing or another one, more than the bike, because I know that my riding is more incisive in the entry and mid-corner, and with the medium [compound rear] tyre in that area you struggle more, but then with the medium you have more stability out of the corner,” Mir said.

“So, my style is a bit more approaching the entry with more speed, and with the soft I could do it, but I had to manage more the tyre drop. 

“But it's something that in the past I was very good at, always, controlling that thing, and for me it was the right choice for my style.”