Joan Mir had a particularly difficult day today as he bid farewell to Lusail, the circuit that will host the first round of the MotoGP World Championship. The rider woke up weak, apparently ill, and wasn’t able to devote as much time as he would have liked to testing, even considering it a day to forget.
‘Today I woke up super tired, I didn’t feel well and then I made the first exit at 3pm (local time in Losail) and then we had a problem with the bike, we stopped and then I vomited at that moment and we decided to stop. I rested a bit and later I tried again but I wasn’t feeling well, and I think I’ll be like that for a few days. On the last exit I crashed, and honestly today was a day to forget: we weren’t able to test many things due to my condition and we lost a bit this day, it was a shame’ said the Repsol Honda Team Spaniard, who then looked at the competition, which he saw improve:
– Everyone improved a lot today. Yesterday we were more or less with the group and even had competitive times, but the truth is that everyone improved today and I couldn’t stay out there and give 100%. We didn’t take «that» step, that’s the point… With the time I did yesterday with the medium tyre, I was expecting a lot more and today with a new, soft tyre, I was unable to attack the second 51, and it was also impossible due to my situation. It was a shame and there are a lot of things I wanted to test, to confirm, but we probably need another four or five days of testing to understand more things, or maybe not, because they’ve improved a lot [laughs].
This was followed by an analysis of the bike, where he saw improvements, although in direct comparison to his opponents… he falls short: ‘In general I feel better on the bike, the feeling with the front is much better. We probably have the same problems but we’re doing faster times, that’s a bit the situation… the lap time is a bit better. It’s certainly not fantastic compared to the others, but we’ve taken a step forward. The acceleration is also better than last year, but it’s true that it’s our weak point at the moment’.
He concluded, looking forward to what will be the first round of the year: ‘In this test we’ve improved the aerodynamics, we’re doing less horsepower, and they’ve brought another fairing with more downforce and that’s positive, a good thing, but the pity was that I couldn’t check everything again and be at the same pace as the guys, do a good time and arrive at the race better prepared. It’s going to be a tough first round and we know this track is difficult for our bike but we’ll try our best’.