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Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir has offered his apologies after his Suzuki hit a camera tower at the final corner at Misano in qualifying.
Mir’s crash – which followed on from a prior fall in the preceding FP4 session – came late in the first qualifying segment, with his GSX-RR folding quickly and getting fired off deep into the run-off section of the left-hand corner.
It was clear from the broadcast that it had made a significant impact, as the track-facing camera wobbled significantly while Mir was sliding through the gravel a few metres behind.
It’s understood that the bike went over the air fence and caught a TV tower hosting a cameraman, who is believed to be unhurt – something Mir also corroborated.
“Looks like I hit a camera guy on the last corner, I think that he’s fine,” Mir said afterwards.
“I want to apologise because I couldn’t avoid it, I’m happy that he’s fine.
“In FP4 I crashed on the first lap, on the slicks, and I couldn’t make any laps to understand how was the track on that moment, that was so important.
“And then I went into Q1 just trying to get the feeling, I was getting better, faster, and when I started to push, I lost the front on the last corner.”
FP4 and the subsequent qualifying sessions marked the first foray into slick-tyre territory this weekend, but the wet patches and cool temperatures only served to heighten the rate of crashes – with Mir not alone in being caught out multiple times.
The falls across those Saturday afternoon sessions were well into the double digits, and Ducati rookies Enea Bastianini and Jorge Martin crashed three times each in very quick succession.
It's not easy out there! ⚠️@eneabastianini demonstrates the tricky conditions! 😮#EmiliaRomagnaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/oOmpDPMLpH
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 23, 2021
“A very strange day for me,” Bastianini said, having fallen twice in FP4 and once in Q1.
“In qualifying [I crashed] because I pushed a lot to go in the second qualifying, but I lose the front into Turn 6. This is possible, but the other two crashes were very, very strange.
“The asphalt, the grip today was a disaster. You know, with this temperature, it’s always… s**t, with all the bikes, with all the tyre [compounds]. In Misano in this time [of year], in this situation, it’s not the best one.”
Martin, for his part, fell once in practice four and then twice in the pole shootout.
“In FP4 I was quite competitive, I was coming in red [sectors, on course for best time of session] also, I think I was competitive – then I crashed in the second-last corner. And from that point everything went wrong,” he said.
“We changed the bike for the qualifying, and the rear tyre on the left side wasn’t getting temperature, so I crashed almost on the out-lap, then I crashed on the first lap.
“I could put the engine on again but then I crashed going straight. I don’t understand, I think the rear tyre had something strange.”
Aside from Martin, Q2 also featured crashes for Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin and Tech3 KTM duo Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci.
Just… what?#EmiliaRomagnaGP | #MotoGP
— The Race (@wearetherace) October 23, 2021
Marquez, who had somehow stayed on the bike in a remarkable near-highside during the session, admitted it hindered his confidence – and said his subsequent crash was because he “pushed without feeling and lost the front”.
“It was always tricky, even a few years ago on the left side [of the front tyre] we crashed a lot, in the morning especially,” MotoGP veteran Petrucci recalled.
“[This weekend] since yesterday we found really, really low grip on the left side, both the dry and the wet tyre are not really hot on that side, and when you try to do something more, especially on corner 6 and corner 15 [two left-handers], it’s a nightmare.
“I think tomorrow will be quite crucial to put the right temperature on the tyre, especially on the left side, because you need to use a tyre that lasts for all the race, but it will be for sure cold on the left, and will be difficult.”
