Joan Mir without crew chief Carchedi, O'Kane to replace

Joan Mir's Suzuki MotoGP crew chief Frankie Carchedi forced to miss the Portimao MotoGP round due to Covid.
Joan Mir, Qatar MotoGP test, 6 March 2021
Joan Mir, Qatar MotoGP test, 6 March 2021
© Gold and Goose

Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir will be without his usual crew chief Frankie Carchedi during this weekend's Portimao round.

The Englishman has tested positive for Covid-19 and is now in isolation.

The diagnosis was made during pre-travel checks before Carchedi had arrived in Portugal and the rest of the Suzuki team has tested negative.

Crash.net has been told that Carchedi had his first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK before the Qatar test and therefore did not receive the pair of Pfizer vaccinations offered to the paddock in Qatar. In order to provide maximum immunity, the two AstraZeneca jabs are issued 12-weeks apart.

Alongside the rest of the Suzuki team, Carchedi had remained in Qatar from the opening test until the second race weekend. Due to quarantine rules in the UK, many British-based paddock members did not travel home during the weekend off between Qatar and Portimao.

Carchedi, who is currently understood to be in Andorra, does not have any symptoms at present.

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Replacing Carchedi this weekend will be the vastly experienced Tom O’Kane, who currently serves as Sylvain Guintoli’s crew chief in the Suzuki test team. The Irishman also previously worked as race team crew chief for Aleix Espargaro.

Mir is currently sixth in the world championship, having finished in fourth and sixth places in Qatar.

Carchedi’s situation will be assessed again ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.

Provisional 2021 MotoGP Calendar

Round

Date

Race

Circuit

1

28 March

Qatar (Evening race)

Losail

2

4 April

Doha (Evening race)

Losail

3

18 April

Portugal

Portimao

4

2 May

Spain

Jerez

5

16 May

France

Le Mans

6

30 May

Italy

Mugello

7

6 June

Catalunya

Barcelona

8

20 June

Germany

Sachsenring

9

27 June

Netherlands

Assen

10

11 July

Finland (Subject to homologation)

KymiRing

11

15 August

Austria

Red Bull Ring

12

29 August

Great Britain

Silverstone

13

12 September

Aragon

Aragon

14

19 September

San Marino e Della Riviera di Rimini

Misano

15

3 October

Japan

Motegi

16

10 October

Thailand

Buriram

17

24 October

Australia

Phillip Island

18

31 October

Malaysia

Sepang

19

14 November

Comunitat Valenciana

Ricardo Tormo

Postponed Grands Prix:
 11 AprilArgentinaTermas
 18 AprilAmericasCOTA
Reserve Grand Prix Venues:
  Indonesia (Race delayed until 'first part of 2022')Mandalika
  RussiaIgora Drive
2021 Pre-season Tests:
 5 MarchQatar Shakedown TestLosail
 6-7 MarchQatar Official TestLosail
 10-12 MarchQatar Official TestLosail

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