Joan Mir 'a bit angry' as title defence slips away
Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir was forced to concede that his title defence is over after slipping 67-points behind Fabio Quartararo with a subdued sixth place finish at Misano on Sunday.
Already on the back foot after starting just eleventh, after a dashboard message mistake sent him into the pits in qualifying, Mir found he couldn't make his usual rate of progress through the field.
"I’m disappointed, I won’t lie. I expected much more," said Mir who crossed the line in fifth but was demoted to sixth due to a track limits infringement. "At the beginning I was not able to overtake, with the front [tyre, hard] we took wrong choice.
"Normally with our bike we’re not able to use that hard front [tyre]. Now we’re trying to change because I need something more. I can’t ride the bike with the medium.
"When we saw the temperature go down, we still went with it. But it was like a race I try to survive. It was much more different than I expected. I wanted to attack and somehow, I was defending. I didn’t have good feelings.
"Anyway, I will try to improve the bike in the test and try to be where I want to be in the last races. I hope to be better in the future."
"Yeah. It’s like this," Mir added, when asked if he saw his title chances as over, with only four rounds and 100 points still available. "Today I wasn’t as competitive as everyone expected. That’s why I’m disappointed. It’s a difficult day for me."
"I’m a bit angry because I know my potential this year," he continued. "I’m making less mistakes and I’m a better rider. And I will not get the championship. It’s difficult to understand.
"But what also I have to say makes me happy is Suzuki, we go in the same direction. I believe they are pushing in the same direction. The next races are like a pre-season, every race is an opportunity to give information and improve the bike. That’s the most clever way."
With Quartararo disappearing in the distance and Sunday's winner Francesco Bagnaia now 19-points ahead of the Suzuki rider in second, Mir is also prepared to take risks in pursuit of what would be a first race win of the season in the remaining rounds.
"If I have the opportunity to win some races, make some manoeuvres at the end, I don’t care if I make the zero [points]," he said.
One of the items on the agenda for this week's official test is to refine the new rear ride-height system, which is not yet offering a clear advantage at all tracks.
"For sure we have to make some evolutions to the [ride height] device. There are some troubles with the bike, like the stopping area," Mir said. "The two days of testing are so important for us because in a lot of tests Suzuki were not testing with Sylvain [Guintoli]. We need to test. Let’s see what they bring and if we find something to be more competitive."
Team-mate Rins crashed out of fifth place shortly after the halfway mark.
