In the first four races of 2021 Joan Mir has reached the podium just once, at Portimão, but continues to focus on continuity and avoids mistakes. The world champion lies fourth in the standings in fact, just 17 points from leader Francesco Bagnaia, and should not be underestimated.

Mir sums up

Not quite the season start the Majorcan might have expected. And he himself admits as much on the motogp.com website: “It’s not been the best start for us, for me. We were able to fight for the podium in Qatar and at Portimão and I think I’m doing well. I hope to get stronger, but for now we need to survive and score as many points as possible”.

His Achille’s heel

He wasn’t part of the leading group at Jerez and crossed the line fifth: “I couldn’t pass the riders in front of me. Perhaps it was the same for the riders up ahead, but with a better engine you can always make a step forward. That was the problem. If I’d had a rider who was half a second quicker, I could have followed him, but not passed him”.

There is another aspect they need to work on in the Hamamatsu garage: “We need to improve in qualifying, because I’m sure that, with no one in front of me, I could definitely lower my lap time”.

Translated by Heather Watson

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