Joan Mir starts the second day of the Grand Prix weekend in Qatar on her back foot after just missing a top ten place in yesterday’s FP2.
Since the FP3 conditions are unlikely to offer better lap times due to the hotter and less grippy track surface, Mir is likely to see a Q1 appearance.
One lap speed remains the Achilles heel of the Suzuki motorcycle, and Mir couldn’t improve enough in the closing stages, with practice becoming a qualifying preview.
Told me back after the first day that there was “room for improvement” which was highlighted by teammate Alex Rins who managed to secure a top ten place with fifth place.
For much of the day, both Suzuki were in the top ten, but Mir was disappointed that they had missed the narrow margin of +0.013 seconds.
“Well, it was a difficult day because we probably missed the final day of testing and that happened today,” added Mir.
On the subject of matching items
“When you’re doing that strong in FP2, the little details count a lot. At the moment we didn’t have that last day to work on the details.
“I think we have room to improve tomorrow. We know where we’re wasting time and that’s it. I hope it gets better tomorrow.”
I admitted that the improvements in the important third lesson are unlikely to occur.
On the subject of matching items
Said to me, “Well, FP3 is going to be impossible to improve so we will probably have to go through the first quarter and that is it.
“That happened today. The best we can do is work for tomorrow and forget about today.”