“I want to go to the disco!” cried Joan Mir on Sunday after becoming the 27th rider to be crowned MotoGP World Champion.
But in a sweaty nightclub in Valencia, the city wasn’t painted blue until the wee hours because this season was like no other.
The 23-year-old’s biggest concern over the last month was that instead of dropping out of a race or breaking an engine, he contracted the virus that changed the world.
This was a whole new kind of pressure for MotoGP riders and not a trivial problem as the battles for the Moto2 and Moto3 championships were both hit by Covid-19.
Sunday’s Moto2 and Moto3 race winners, Jorge Martin and Tony Arbolino, had their title challenges severely affected by the virus. Martin tested positive in September and had to miss two races. Arbolino had to miss the Aragon GP last month due to Italian quarantine rules.
Unlike many young racing drivers, Mir is not just about hair gel and sunglasses, so he is fully focused on being fast.
I knew he was just as at risk of the virus destroying his dreams, forcing him to live like a hermit when he went home between races.
“Usually you have pressure on the track, not at home,” said Mir on Sunday afternoon. “But even at home I couldn’t disconnect because of the pressure not to try to get the virus and that made the situation a lot more difficult.”
The 2020 MotoGP championship was the most upside-down in history. Nine different winners from 13 races and title challenges dwindled due to falls, tire problems and cool conditions and are the result of the calendar delayed with Covid. Mir’s secret was consistency – collecting points on board his Suzuki GSX-R while his rivals were on one weekend and the next.
The Suzuki isn’t the fastest bike on the MotoGP grid, but it works better with the tires than any other, which is the secret of the specialty tire race.
I’m one of the fastest MotoGP title winners in history. He started his full-time Grand Prix career in spring 2016, so this is his only fifth season at world level and only his second in the premier class.
Few riders have climbed the highest peak in motorcycle racing on the World Championship route in less than five years. So Mir joins the high profile company of men like Nicky Hayden, Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, “King” Kenny Roberts, Giacomo Agostini and Mike Hailwood, all of whom came, saw and conquered in double the time.
I feel bright, friendly and just as normal as it is possible for a MotoGP rider. Unlike many young racers in today’s picture obsessed world, he’s not just hair gel and sunglasses, so he’s totally focused on going fast.
I celebrated the rookies victory in Brno in 2014 and am the first Red Bull rookie to wear the MotoGP crown
Red Bull
He comes from the island of Mallorca, the birthplace of three-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo, whose father Chicho Lorenzo taught his son and now teaches other youngsters to ride. I took my first steps to become a racing driver at Chicho Competición.
Chicho’s lessons are not about children running faster and faster down dirt roads until they fall off. It takes endless repetition of slow driving exercises around bowling and go-karting tracks until perfection becomes the driver’s unconscious self.
No wonder that Mir’s driving style is very Lorenzo – smooth as glass, absolutely one with the motorcycle and absolutely committed.
He climbed quickly: from the Balearic Championship to victory in the Spanish 125cc PreGP series and second place in the Red Bull Rookies. In 2015 he competed in the CEV Moto3 series, shone with his speed and made his GP debut at Phillip Island, replacing an injured rider.
He didn’t win his first world title until his second season of Grand Prix racing when he completely dominated the Moto3 championship in 2017 before switching to Moto2 in 2018. He was immediately on the right track and just missed a big bike podium in his third race, at COTA in April 2018.