Take the fastest bike of all six manufacturers in MotoGP in today’s Valencian Grand Prix qualifying, and Suzuki’s was slowest of them all. While Joan Mir was 12th and team-mate Alex Rins failed to make Q2, its five rival marques had at least one bike in the top seven.
But champion-elect Mir is adamant that there’s nothing to panic about, and sounds confident that he can still wrap up the championship tomorrow at the penultimate race of the year.
Mir is no stranger to carving his way through the pack in the opening stages of races, and though 12th represents his joint second-worst grid position of the year, the last time he was 12th on the grid he converted it into a podium – which would be enough on Sunday to clinch the 2020 title.
“The day wasn’t actually that bad,” Mir insisted after qualifying, “because I improved my pace and my potential, and I’m quite happy with that. We’re in the position I want to be in.
“To be honest though, I don’t know what happened in qualifying. It felt a little like FP2 yesterday, where I didn’t have the same feeling. I don’t understand why, but I couldn’t push and I wasn’t able to make a fast laptime. It’s a shame, but the important thing is that I have pace and I’ve started from this position before.”
Seemingly able to completely brush off pressure at the minute, Mir sounds relaxed about Sunday, and sounds like he’ll open to riding conservatively if it’s needed for the title.
With poleman Franco Morbidelli looking lightning fast and with his closest championship rivals Fabio Quartararo (11th) and Rins (14th) needing at least a top-four finish to keep the title race alive, Mir is confident that he can manage the situation.
“I didn’t think much about it today, but it’s true that Franky is really strong, especially on race pace,” says Mir, who will need to finish in the top 10 to rule outside contender Morbidelli out the title race. “Maybe I’m one of the few riders who can fight with him, if nothing happens, but starting from the back presents a problem for me to fight for the win.
“I’ll give my 100% and see where we are, and in that moment I’ll start to think about the championship and how I feel. I can decide if I want to stay inside the to10, or if I want to push for the podium. Let’s see what happens.”
That call won’t come too early in his race, either. Suitably buffered from seeing his rivals securing a top three position by a dozen other racers and unsure of the pace of those around him, he’s planning on playing it cool when the lights go out.
“There are a couple of really strong riders, especially over one lap. The first laps of the race will be really crucial to understand what position I’m in. I’ll try to recover as many positions as I can from the start, and if I find myself in a good comfortable position I’ll start to think about the championship.”
And while the overall pressure isn’t getting to Mir despite the huge weight on his young shoulders, he did admit that he’s keen to get it over and done with now so that he can relax a little.
Admitting on Thursday that the stresses of fighting for the title in the middle of a pandemic, where a positive COVID-19 test can have the same impact as a crash, has been sore on him and his team, Mir conceded that he’ll be happy when it’s all over.
“It’s a different weekend and you can feel it. I’ll try to stay calm, to do everything as usual, but it’ll finish quickly and it means we can use the pressure we’re under now. But I want to finish it.
