MotoGP: Joan Mir, surprise MotoGP title contender
Joan Mir has come out of the blocks running this season in MotoGP with a hugely successful season so far.
At the start of the season, if you said Joan Mir was to be a true title contender after 7 rounds, I would’ve looked at you like you were mental, for good reason too. Yes, Mir has undeniable talent, he destroyed the field in Moto3 in 2017 with 10 x wins and 13 x podiums in only his second year in the class, this is not forgetting a rookie win in 2016 at Austria and 3 x podiums, but the 2019 Mir we have seen and the 2020 Mir are two completely different riders.
Joan Mir is not the man we knew last season as a rookie, last year he was calm, collected and quite quiet, taking 10 x top 10 finishes and being knocked off by every rider physically possible, he took his best result of P5 at Phillip Island where miracles are known to happen and genuinely had a good season with Suzuki hiring him for 2021 and 2022 before the 2020 season even started.
However, during quarantine something happened, Joan Mir had a Pokemon-style evolution, changing from a Charmander to a Charizard with a fire burning inside him like we have never seen from him, Joan Mir has led races in 2020, taking his maiden podium at Austria with a P2 after duffing Jack Miller up the inside at the last corner to take second place from the Australian. Mir then led the race the week after with blistering fast pace, disappearing from his rivals leaving us to wonder, who the hell is this guy?
Joan Mir has balls, we know this from the Misano race, on the last lap he overtook teammate Alex Rins before pulling off an inch-perfect overtake on Valentino Rossi at his home race, denying The Doctor of his 200th podium, receiving hate after the race for doing so, like he cares, you can see the overtake here:
As cool as you like! 💪@JoanMirOfficial left it late to get the job done! 🔄#SanMarinoGP 🇸🇲 pic.twitter.com/dWlz8z6wlZ
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 14, 2020
In the last three races, Joan Mir has scored more points than any other rider, scoring 49 races, the next best rider is Andrea Dovizioso who has scored 49 points in three races. If the red flag did not cost Mir his first win, he would’ve gained an extra 12 points, putting him in second place in the standings, 4 points behind Andrea Dovizioso.
Currently, Mir is sat in 4th place overall, moving from 8th to 4th overall after his Misano podium, it is clear to see Mir is on a charge with the title in mind, if he keeps up this form it won’t be long before he leads the championship standings.
Featured image – www.motogp.com
