Joan Mir: Margin to improve, but we won't make a 1m 52s!

Ducati rider Jack Miller topped the opening day of the second MotoGP Qatar test ahead of Fabio Quartararo, while defending champion Joan Mir was seventh. 

Mir completed 57 laps for Suzuki as he went through another busy schedule of testing for the Hamamatsu team. 

In 2020, the only visible weakness of the Suzuki was the one lap time attack pace. And while it was a top ten finish for Mir and Alex Rins, who was one place behind his Spanish team-mate, the pair were nearly a second down. 

Asked about the time gap to the front runners, and Quartararo in particular, Mir said: "I think that I have some margin to improve, but not that much. We always see that the Yamaha and Fabio are able to do really good lap times in one lap." 

"We can compete with them in other areas for sure this is a fact. We will not make a 1m 52s lap time, but probably we will be closer to that 1m 53.2, that is our goal. 

"I think that tomorrow we will build more speed because these days were more about trying and understanding everything. I’m looking forward to making another step and then to see where we end up will be interesting"

This thinking by Mir suggests he expects a few riders to break under the 1m 52s lap time before the test ends.

If that is indeed the case, it will be the first time ever, as Miller and Quartararo already finished today's running under the unofficial lap record. 

Before the test is over, teams and riders will be eager to get through their programmes and do a race simulation. Mir aims to do this and already is seeing positive steps concerning the race performance. 

"Today I made a step. We were trying a lot of things and this always creates confusion and you never see the real performance. I was able to exit corners really well with the used tyres and do 1m 54s lap times. 

"This is something that not everyone is able to do at the moment, with a lot of riders in the low 1m 55s, and only a few people in the mid 1m 54s.

"I think that our performance is not far. We are not the best ones or the fastest ones at the moment, but I think, and I am confident in these next two days that we will build more speed. If we finish what we have planned to do, then I think we will make a race simulation of fifteen laps or so." 

With the current engine freeze for the 2021 season. It means the bike remains largely the same with only small details being worked on.

Asked about if they have any major differences with this year's bike compared to last year, Mir said: "No it is really difficult to change the character of the bike without changing the engine.

"The character of the bike is the same. The thing that works is the small details, but you can always improve the small things.

"Maybe working on forks and these things to see some electronic improvements, so that’s why I say there is not much lap time to improve because at the moment we don’t have the package. 

"But it is what we have and with this bike we have to give 100%. Last year we showed that we were able to be really consistent so this is probably our advantage, but we will see for 2022 if we can make another step forward."