Joan Mir arrives in the official HRC garage in one of the worst moments in the history of the Japanese manufacturer, which for more than two years has been trying to recover the best version of Marc Marquez, the spearhead, and trying to find a bike that can be more easy to drive for all its riders.
In his first winter with Honda colors, the Majorcan felt the contrast of the switch from the Suzuki, one of the best-handling bikes on the grid, to the RC213V, which has recently proved to be a real torture device.
In Portimao, where the world championship will start in two weeks, Mir took a step forward on the second day of testing, finishing 13th in the general time classification. He pays eight tenths of a delay from Pecco Bagnaia, leader of the platoon with which Ducati will enter the battle and one of the main candidates for the world title.
“The reality is that we are far away. The sensations with the bike are improving every day, but there hasn’t been any revolution and we’re a long way off. At the same time, I think it’s the best way to make progress, to go tenth after tenth,” explained the 2020 world champion.
Joan Mir, Repsol Honda Squad
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
In this last opportunity to ride without the pressure of the race weekend, Mir took a step back with the intention of recovering a chassis that was initially discarded, but with which he found a way to go faster: “We went back all the time. other frame. It’s very difficult to decide what we’ll use, we took a different path, with a different chassis from day one, and the lap times were better, but I still don’t have the feeling I’m looking for”.
The Majorcan was the best of the Honda riders in the general standings at the end of the test: “I did my best time on this track, but Ducati and Aprilia are very fast. This means that times that previously allowed you to break the track record now leave you outside the top 10,” reflected Mir, more than aware of the difficulties he will have to go through in order to perform at the required level.
“When you miss it so much it’s difficult to think about doing a fantastic grand prix. On the second day of testing, I lowered my time from the first day by a second, but I’m sweating thinking about lowering the time we have left. The pre-season was short, the others have a bit more advantage,” concluded Mir.
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