Mir’s difficulties in qualifying on the Suzuki in 2021 continued at Assen, with the Suzuki rider again forced to fight his way through from the fourth row in 10th place.
With the Suzuki lacking its rivals’ rear fall arrest device, Mir had to take aggressive steps as he worked his way through the assignment and managed to salvage his third podium of the season.
I admit that this pre-summer podium was “important” to both him and Suzuki, but admits that his current bike is not strong enough to defend his title at the moment.
“I think it will be a boost of energy to be better in the second part of the season,” said Mir, who is 55 points behind the championship lead.
“With this package like this, it’s probably not enough to fight for the title, so I have to work on it, work on the bike, work on myself, always try to keep improving.
“But I’m so happy with the race overall because I think we couldn’t expect much more from this race.
“These two boys [Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales] were really very quick the whole weekend.
“They rode the bike at a really good level and it was really difficult for me to be close to them.
“But I did what I had to do on the first laps, it’s always too difficult to overtake Honda and Ducatis, it’s always a nightmare.
“But I tried to get the most out of it and cleverly overtake. Of course, I always struggle to overtake the Ducatis, so overtaking may be a bit at the limit.
“I never touch [anyone] but I always do a block pass to them, so sorry for those overtaking maneuvers, but it’s always very difficult.
“Jack [Miller] will be angry because overtaking was again a block pass and I don’t like these overtaking maneuvers, but he’s fast on the straights and he brakes hard. So it’s difficult. “
I tell me that Suzuki will bring its own rear ride height device for the second half of the season, but also states that the brand has to get to the bottom of its problems in qualifying.
“First we have to work on the device because there are a lot of tracks where this device can make a big difference in order to start in the same position as the others,” he said.
“Well, we have to do that. Then work a little on the details of the bike that always make the difference.
“Well, for my part, we and the team have to understand what we need to be stronger in qualifying, in order to set a good lap time, because the pace that I can drive is always not far from the lap that I can drive I drive like an animal in qualifying.
“So it’s hard to understand, but we’ll find a solution.”