The Australian Grand Prix was special in the Suzuki garage. On the one hand, they achieved the first victory of the season, after a spectacular Alex Rins prevailed over Marc Márquez and Pecco Bagnaia. But, in addition, Joan Mir returned to competition after more than a month off, after being injured at the Red Bull Ring at the end of August.
And the truth is that #36 came back with a vengeance, and it didn’t take long for him to be competitive . Although in free practice and in qualifying things didn’t work out for him, in FP4 (where the goal is to find a good rhythm) he did prove to be at a good level.
Said and done, in the race it didn’t take long for him to climb positions , getting to ride comfortably among the top ten. However, that comeback was only a mirage that did not take long to vanish.
The reason? “A problem with the pressure gauge,” Mir explained. ” The pressure of the tires shot up from the first moment. Both, but, above all, the rear. Very difficult to swallow in a race in which I think I could have won,” he said, particularly frustrated after seeing the result of your teammate.
Returning to the garage they saw the data, and were able to verify the tremendous error in the pressures . “The difference was huge. In the team they don’t understand how I finished the race. The pressure must be 1.4, and it was 2.1. I was skidding in every corner,” lamented the Spaniard.
Thus, Phillip Island became a survival race for the 2020 MotoGP champion. “We have three maps, and the third one is only used for emergencies, and I put it on lap 15. I realized it on the first lap [of the problem]. I was losing more every lap.”
But Mir knew how to pull with pride to reach the finish line, although he did not manage to pick up any points. “I didn’t retire because I had missed four races. I needed a result,” he concluded.
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