Portimao.- After the first four races of the season, the Suzuki rider has 46 points and is installed in a comfortable fourth position overall in the World Championship, just 15 points behind the leader of the contest, Enea Bastianini, a better position than the two years ago, when he won the title, at the same time as the championship.
Although he has done very consistent races and come back, Joan Mir still needs to materialize his good form with some result that goes beyond the two fourth places achieved in Argentina and the United States.
“It’s time to make podiums,” admits the man from Palma.
“It’s time to take the next step, we’ve arrived in Europe, we’ve just done two sixths and two fourths coming from behind. Things are working out, little by little the bike is improving,” he adds.
For Joan Mir , saving the first four transoceanic races of the course by adding to all of them is the best news so far.
“Now we are going to circuits that I know well, in which we have had good results in the past, it is time to take the next step and start fighting for the podiums. And what is more important, when you get there you will not get off the drawer, which is what ultimately gives you the power to fight for the championship”, he argues convinced of his strength.
Another point that squeaks in Mir’s argument is that this year his teammate Alex Rins has beaten him in three races, and in the last two he has achieved the podium.
“If they were the last four races of the championship I would be angry, but they are the first, I am not worried, I know exactly what my potential is and how far I can go”, explains Mir.
“I think that I have not yet spoken in this championship, I have simply had good races but he can give much more”, emphasizes the pilot.
For the 2020 champion, who won the title with a single victory, the only one he has achieved since moving up to MotoGP, that there are different winners is good.
“Hopefully it will be an open championship with many winners, but we always have to be there, the same strategy as in 2020. We have everything to have a good year.”
And when asked by Motorsport.com how many wins he thought it would take to take the crown this year, he left the options open.
“To win a World Championship in a normal season you have to count that you need to win, more or less, three races, I think. But I’m not very clear either, I’m always going to win, that without a doubt, but if you finish on the podium every races in a year where there are different winners, you can take the title. Of course it is not the way I would like to win, but nobody tells you that if you finish all the races second or third, you still win it, “he concluded.
