Joan Mir finally had a good weekend at the new circuit in India. The Spanish rider from Repsol Honda was able to be fast from the first Friday practices, maintaining a high pace until the final race on Sunday, despite the fall in the Sprint race on Saturday.
During the debrief after the long race, the 2020 world champion stated that he had mixed feelings despite the promising result:
– Yes, mixed feelings after this race. Obviously very happy with the performance over the weekend. We did an excellent job to understand this bike and how to find the good lines and be fast. I think the test in Misano was crucial as well. But on the other hand, I had a problem in the second part of the race, with vibration in the rear tire.
Mir then went on to explain the issue that affected him, saying that without it, he believed he had the pace to keep up with Jorge Martín and Fabio Quartararo in the battle for second place:
– That was a shame, because I was behind Fabio (Quartararo) feeling very comfortable, managing the tire for the end of the race and then when this vibration appeared I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. It started very strong and then as it was sliding more and more, it was disappearing and then when I entered, it was bad. So it conditioned the second part of the race. I think we could have been close to Jorge (Martín) and Fabio (Quartararo) today, honestly. But anyway, it’s great to have this problem while being in the lead. In Motegi we will see.
