“Well rested” Joan Mir takes surprise Q2 spot in MotoGP return

Joan Mir was left “very happy” by taking an unexpected Q2 spot in Practice at the Malaysian MotoGP.

Mir finished 10th in Practice and will be the only Honda rider in Q2 tomorrow if none of Luca Marini, Diogo Moreira, and Johann Zarco can pass through Q1.

The 2020 MotoGP champion feels the result is a reward for the effort he’s put in over the last few weeks to recover from the illness that had kept him out of the last four grands prix.

“Everything went very well, I'm very happy with today's result,” said Joan Mir, as reported by Motorsport.com.

“It was unexpected. I didn't expect to be in Q2 tomorrow. It's a great reward. 

“After all the work I've been doing during this period. It has been incredible.”

Mir added: “This reward means a lot. It means more than meets the eye. For all the work done.”

Mir hadn’t ridden a MotoGP bike since the San Marino Grand Prix in September. The time away, he says, was of benefit by the time he got to Sepang.

“Physically, tomorrow I will tell you how I feel,” he said.

“But mentally, after this time away from racing, I feel more rested. That's for sure.”

He reiterated, though, that the severity of his lack of energy during his time away meant that he was unable to train as normal, which could result in poor conditioning for the races.

“Because of the energy and vision issues I had, there was a period of three-to-four weeks where I had to stop completely,” the Honda HRC rider said. 

“This is not ideal because you lose some physical fitness. 

“But I think that in the last week and a half I was able to train 100 per cent to recover.

“Physically, today I felt good. But it's true that we did a maximum of three [runs], with 5 laps per run. 

“Tomorrow we have a race and we'll see how I feel.”