Joan Mir appeared today at the end of the first day of testing in Sepang with mixed feelings, after achieving the 14th fastest time. While there are positive points, overall he did not feel a clear improvement from Honda, however, considering the work and effort being put in, his prospects are good.
In his initial analysis of his work, Mir did not seem particularly happy, taking a somewhat reserved stance: ‘Today we took a slightly opposite direction, we didn’t improve the base of the bike, the base we had in the Shakedown, and I didn’t feel comfortable. It’s only the first day and that’s what makes me a little calmer because if it were the last day and I had these sensations, it certainly wouldn’t be the best. We have to compare the data. We improved a lot in sectors three and four, we are very close to the top, but then in sectors one and two we are losing and that is strange because we were fast and we need to understand what is happening. Maybe we were a little worse in braking today, the feelings with the front… and that is not helping us in the first two sectors’.
The Spanish rider from Repsol Honda Team believes that he is still closer to reaching “the limit” and being able to extract important tenths of a second: ‘Then, on the other hand, in the most important aspect, we are fast, so we have to analyze these things because that’s why we’re here. Let’s see tomorrow, fortunately we have fewer things to test, and we will be focused on the details that, in the end, are what make you feel these last tenths with the bike and the last part, the ultimate limit that you can reach and that can give you more’.
Sobre se sente que a direção tomada é a certa, Mir acredita que todos se estão a esforçar e é precisamente essa parte que o deixa esperançoso numa melhoria, ainda que atualmente não se encontre na posição desejada:
– Honestamente estaba feliz [al final de las pruebas de Valencia en 2023] y sigo feliz porque siento que el trabajo que están haciendo es bueno, están trabajando duro y eso es algo que valoro, pero la verdad es que actualmente no estamos donde queremos estar. Quiero ser optimista. El año pasado fue muy duro para mí y no quiero pensar que hemos resuelto esta situación con un par de pruebas porque creo que hay un largo camino por recorrer para seguir mejorando y demás. No estamos donde me gustaría que estuviéramos, por lo que no puedo estar muy, muy feliz.
