It was with frustration that Joan Mir found himself involved in an incident with Álex Márquez, with both ending the race on the ground at Motegi before the first lap had even finished. The Honda rider even questioned the lack of reaction – at the time – from Race Direction, and said that he expects an apology from his Gresini opponent.
Mir began by explaining what had happened to the press: ‘At turn 11 I overtook Álex and he went wide, so I took the opportunity to overtake him and we changed direction and when I was in the middle of turn 12 he hit me hard in the rear, his bike got caught on my seat and my swingarm and I went straight into the gravel without… I mean, unbelievable! It’s crazy what happened’.
And he didn’t shy away from “sending a message” to Race Direction, which at the time of his words had not yet commented on the issue – something that would come up later – without forgetting that similar situations with the #73 are not new:
– I’m waiting to hear from Race Direction, they’re probably sleeping or eating something, I don’t know what they’re doing and that’s the first thing, and then an apology. I think you should apologize when you destroy someone’s race, you should apologize if you really feel it, and it’s normal to be upset. It’s not the first time things like this have happened to him.
And he recalled one of the crashes that caused the most ink to run this year, and not so long ago, involving Pecco Bagnaia: ‘The action is something similar to what happened in Aragon with Pecco, in part. It’s not exactly the same because I was clearly ahead and Pecco was trying to overtake and I was clearly ahead, but his bike got stuck in the same place as Pecco’s did. It’s crazy, crazy’.