A tenth place that put a smile on the face of world champion Joan Mir at the end as he admitted, he couldn’t do more with his Suzuki today. The Hamamatsu manufacturer’s bike suffered as usual in qualifying, but in RP3 and FP4 the Spaniard showed that he had the right pace to do well in tomorrow’s race.
“I couldn’t have asked for much more honestly – said Joan – I’m close to pole position and tomorrow I won’t start from far behind and try to do my usual race. I took a clear step forward between yesterday and today, I’m closer and we’re still working on the electronics to get the most out of the bike and tires. We are still a long way from solving our problems in qualifying, but we will keep working. “
Today we saw a lot of crashes in FP3 and FP4. Is there a specific reason?
“Today the conditions were not the best possible, it was hot but the wind was cold and it cooled the tires and the track. I think the falls were for these reasons, not because the riders pushed too hard as we all did are very close. However, it has to be said that there is a safety issue on this route. “
Don’t you think Jerez is a safe route?
“The drainage areas on this route are not big enough for MotoGP. We are at the limit in many corners, especially 1, 7 and 10. I crashed at Turn 7 in 2019 and hit the barriers, as happened to Marquez and Espargarò today. In the Security Commission we talked about I think to make this track safe you have to spend a lot of money. It’s always the same story nobody changes anything until something happens. I hope they will modify some areas next year and then in the years to come. “
Even today we canceled several laps for millimeters. What do you think about it?
“We know the sensors are sensitive, we have to be careful. I prefer the rule as it is now It is clear, and if you are only a millimeter away, the time will cut out, resulting in fewer arguments. “
What happened to Vinales in FP3?
“I improved my time with a new tire and Maverick was in the middle of the track, that’s all I can say.”
Rins: “Yamaha in front of everyone, let’s hope Miller starts well.”
His teammate Alex Rins, who managed to bring his Suzuki to ninth place, did a little better than the world champion. What are his feelings after that Saturday in Jerez?
“Qualifying was like that, Rins said with a touch of disappointment, but the day was good, we did a good RP3 and went straight into the second quarter with everything that’s so close. But then I was able to make a good pace in RP4 I was trying to figure out where the limit is and made a little mistake. I lost the front and crashed. For qualifying, I was fully motivated to set a good lap time. The first tire was fine, I was able to go faster than in FP3, but then the second rear tire was pushing a lot and not 100% confidence on the front. Maybe it took away the feeling of improving my lap time. “
How do you see tomorrow’s race?
“I have to start well if I want to have a good race. It looks like the Yamahas are ahead of everyone else, the Ducatis and Miller don’t seem to be on a good pace, but tomorrow they could still be part of the game. Our strategy is to overtake the guys as quickly as possible. If Quartararo makes a good start and stays in the first place, it will be difficult to fight for victory. On the other hand, if Miller starts well, we can slow down Fabio’s pace a little and try to fight. “”
What do you think of the security issue and crashes this weekend?
“I fell because I took the corner too hard, but it’s true and we know very well that the drainage areas are small here. We talked in the Security Commission about They asked us where something could be done, but neither of us mentioned the corner where Marc had crashed. We’ll see if anything can be changed in the future, but there are tracks where it’s even worse than in Montmelò, where they changed something but there isn’t enough space at Turn 9, for example. “
Have the MotoGP bikes got too fast for the tracks?
“Yeah, maybe we’re starting to be a little quick (laughs, ed). Year after year we improve When I was in Moto3 we struggled to get 1:46 here, while now there are incredible times. “