MotoGP: Joan Mir: “I am really sorry about Valentino, but racing is like that”
Joan Mir pulled off a masterclass of a race today, taking no prisoners on his way to the podium.
On the last lap of the race, Joan Mir had blistering pace, overtaking teammate Alex Rins for fourth place at turn 1 on the last lap. This was before he went all out, catching up to Valentino Rossi and overtaking him in a move we did not see coming, seemingly coming from miles back to overtake The Doctor to the dismay of Rossi’s fans to take the final podium spot. Denying Rossi his 200th podium.
Mir even had enough pace to be on the heel of Francesco Bagnaia come the last few corners, however, felt it would’ve been too risky to attempt an overtake saying, “I gained time to Bagnaia and saw he was struggling, it was too risky to overtake Bagnaia” – Smart and calculated from the 23-year old who really is impressing this season, jumping from eighth in the standings to fourth, only 16 points from Andrea Dovizioso who leads the championship. Mir nearly took the win at Styria also but a red flag meant that this was not possible.
Looking on social media, Joan Mir has received a lot of abuse for his last lap overtake, despite it being a fair overtake. The sadness of Rossi fans who hoped to see Rossi share his 200th podium with the VR46 Riders Academy at their home race has shone through, but this is racing and must be accepted by people, Mir is a racer and will overtake because he is a racer.
Regarding the overtake, Mir jokingly said, “I am really sorry about Valentino but racing is like that, I was really strong in the last part of the race, he [Rossi] deserved a podium he did a fantastic race but today was not possible.”
The Suzuki has been incredibly strong around Misano, a track they struggled on majorly, Mir said he was convinced that he was not going to be competitive at Misano due to them struggling last season, but Mir gave 100% today and feels the bike was also 100%, this clearly showed as Mir looked like he was on rails, overtaking riders right, left and centre, using the Suzuki’s superior corner abilities to do so, “When I saw that I was catching the riders in front it was really nice, I was really tired because I was giving 100% in all the laps. It was so special to do my first podium here in Misano on the MotoGP bike with that last lap.”
We are hoping to see more from Joan Mir next weekend as the young Spaniard looks to be a true title contender and could truly shake things up. At the start of the season, no one would’ve bet on Joan Mir to be able to fight for the title, however, his consistency track to track is shining through, at this stage, Mir looks to be one of the most consistent riders on the grid. This is helping him given that the riders around him cannot put more than 2 races in a row together and are falling apart.
Featured image – www.motogp.com
