In the live broadcast of Zam da Ciapa the bike, last Tuesday, Livio Suppo made an interesting comparison between the two Honda riders, Alex Rins and Joan Mir. Rins won the American race with Cecchinello’s Honda LCR after the second place in the sprint race, while Mir collected two zeros and seems decidedly in crisis. “Alex (surnames are useless for Suppo) is stronger”.
Suppo reasoned: in 2020 Alex could win the championship exactly like Joan won it and Franco (Morbidelli) could win it; the year after though took a lot of falls, it was a terrible year for him as Joan finished in third place. At that point we were all more convinced of Mir’s talent, fast and constant. Then 2022 turned everything upside down and now Mir, after a very bad year, has got on a bike that is not easy.
Immediately afterwards, Livio Suppo threw a dig at the Honda manager, Alberto Puig.
“I stress – he said – that the two riders with whom Honda has won in recent years have not been chosen by Puig: Marc Marquez found it and Rins took it from Cecchinello”. How to say, Alberto has chosen only Mir and in fact…
However, now, on Todocircuito, the Spanish manager of HRC has defended his choice without hesitation, saying:
“Mir’s potential is at least equal to that of Rins”.
After pointing out that everyone at Honda, in Europe as well as in Japan, is giving their all and that Marc Marquezwhich follows the doctors’ schedule, he should be able to return to JerezAlberto analyzed Austin’s winning trip.
“It was a very positive weekend: a Honda won the Grand Prix and this is our goal for every GP. In recent months there has been a lot of discussion around the competitiveness of our bike, but we have shown that we have good potential. Rins was very good – Puig specified – e his guidance, focus and result are just what we needed. He was very quick and the bike supported him”.
Mir, on the other hand, was not lucky, he missed Argentina due to injury; then he returned to Austin collecting an opaque twelfth place in the sprint race and a crash on Sunday. But Puig rightly supports its rider.
“But it is clear – specified Alberto – that Mir has very high potential: he is looking for feling with the bike and week after week he will find it, the falls didn’t help him. We we believe his potential is at least on par with Alex’s, the years they have raced together prove it. We are sure that sooner or later you will find an understanding with the bike and in any case you have already taken a big step forward in America ”.
