Joan Mir: "It will be nice to face Marc Márquez, he's the best"

Joan Mir, MotoGP world champion, attended a ceremony by his sponsor Estrella Galicia this Wednesday morning. The Mallorcan rider spoke to the media and explained that he is already thinking about 2021, and about the confrontation against the best, Marc Márquez. He assures that the title won this year gives him more confidence to face the Repsol Honda rider, six times world champion in the premier class, and that he likes the pressure of having won this year. What are his expectations for 2021? A World Cup has very good things, which is the merit of having achieved it, but the bad thing then is this pressure for next year. I do see that at the beginning of the year I am starting in a different way. This year I have looked very strong and I have been able to take that pressure well, but next year it will be a different scenario. Marc will return, we will have the rival who has won in recent years and the fastest in the last eight years. It will be nice. Impatient for that. Right now I just have to enjoy what we have achieved. Next year a different year is planned, also motivated. We’ll see how it goes. “The confidence of the champion” It gives me more confidence because this year I have been able to show that we have won. It is clear that he can give me a lot of confidence but we know that the Honda Marc package in recent years has been very fast. To play a World Cup against them we have to improve our speed on the bike and be a little more competitive. More poles, victories … that surely to fight with Marc we will need it. We have shown that we can have other strengths such as perseverance, but to keep winning we have to win more races ». Difficulty of this championship« It was tough because when the end was getting closer it got harder.With the coronavirus we all wanted to start and I made mistakes in the first races. In Brno I hit rock bottom, they threw me in the first laps. Then my confidence grew, I discovered myself and the end was the most difficult, because I had the pressure on the track to be the fastest and at home also to avoid catching it. That made my life difficult. Seeing how Rossi stayed out for positive made me see that there was no trap in this and for my stability it did not help me much. We took precautions and I trained a lot, but not in a normal way. It was weird and I will remember it all my life, because I was under pressure for three weeks and I will remember it all my life. Sometimes not talking hurts more than talking. But we have talked on the track. If I’m honest, I wouldn’t have worn the first one this year either. But I would have put myself in the top five, taking into account the potential I had. Like my rivals did not have the confidence in me that I had, but I like that it was this way. If everyone had put me as a favorite and in the end I had won, it would not have been so nice. This way yes. I think next year they will think about it a little more (laughs). “Did you see yourself fighting for the title in preseason?” In the tests I did feel strong enough to fight to be in the top 5 every race. Bad luck started in Jerez, with difficult results also in Brno. But in Austria I started to find the sensations with the bike again, I was very competitive with the Suzuki, which in theory shouldn’t be the bike to beat there. I made my first podium, but I wasn’t sure I could be competitive on all the others.But after Misano I saw that he was also competitive in a very nice race and coming back. That was the moment where I saw that I could have the option to fight for the championship “. What change in preseason to be up this year?” It was the longest preseason of my life. I like to train with different bikes. Motocross, trial, dirt track, to experiment and find new techniques. Mentally he was motivated, because the previous year was difficult due to the injury. I worked on improving everything a bit, being calm mentally. And the physical condition, if he didn’t have it right, he couldn’t win races. In 2019 I finished the races very badly due to injury, tired and even dizzy, and what I wanted was to get fresh to the races this year. It was key to be able to finish the races from less to more and closing the gap, it was because I am stronger ». Spanish dominance« It does not worry me. It would have to concern the organization. I am concerned about winning, the more the merrier. In this case, Marc has been the one who has won in recent years, now I, Arenas too… There is a lot of Spanish, but not now, since always. I don’t think it changes or makes it less attractive to foreign audiences. It would be more exciting to fight a Spaniard against an Englishman or an American, but the reality is that the best drivers are coming from Spain ». Constructors’ World Cup« It was quickly forgotten because of the bad luck we had that weekend. It is very rare to have problems with electronics two days in a row. That made us lose everything on Saturday. For the warm up we were able to fix ourselves, but not everything was ready. In the race I went back in a bit of a beast way. Then I went to apologize to Pecco and for that touch I had to withdraw because the electronic problem returned.The team has to see what happened so that it does not repeat itself in the future. Sometimes this sport has to accompany you all, if the rider is well and the motorcycle does not work for you, you do not go and vice versa. A weekend to forget, but it has not taken away the good taste in my mouth of the whole year ». Rivals for 2021« The first will be Marc. And I hope that next year is not like this year and that there will not be six o ten direct rivals. My partner, Fabio, Maverick, some Ducati. The new Ducati officers will go fast. And the KTMs. I would not like to forget about anyone like some of them happened to me before starting this championship “. Has your life changed with the title?” It has changed me. Already in 2017, when I won, my life changed a bit, because people recognize you more through the media. But Moto3 is not the same, MotoGP has much more pull. People recognize me more on the street, it is a bit what has changed me. Otherwise, no, I’m still the same. I have more media pull, but otherwise at all, I feel the same. I already believe that of being a champion, we have been a few weeks. The press makes you believe it more, because if he were not a champion, now he would be at home resting and not here. I have to believe it. “Main rival this season” It was a rather strange season. At first I thought that Fabio, then Dovi also seemed like a tough opponent. But in the end Rins and Morbidelli, especially the latter who had a great finish. But I have been more concerned about the coronavirus, because if you beat it, you would lose 25 points every weekend. Luckily everything went well. “Will it take the 1st or the 36th?” It won’t depend on anything. It will depend on me. Suzuki has already told me that he would like me to wear the 1.It is a privilege to be able to wear it, but I like 36 a lot because with it I have won two titles and it gives me luck. It’s a goddamn problem. At the moment I tend more to 1, but I will take some time to think about it calmly. Advancement of the year «The most significant and beautiful was that of Valentino Rossi in Misano, taking away the podium 200 and the VR46 Academy treble. It would have been a very nice day for Valentino, which it was too, because a room is very good too. I stay with that overtaking. Besides, reaching 200 podiums is a joke. I have to start adding more podiums, because I’m greener. And then, in the last race in Portimao there are really cool overtaking in the first two laps. I would also stick with some of those ». Positive pressure for winning the title« On the one hand it takes pressure off you because you have already won a title, but on the other hand it gives you it because you are a favorite. I don’t know how I’m going to handle it because I’ve never experienced it. When I won in Moto3 I went up to Moto2 and I did not defend it. It will be the first time that I am going to defend him and I am going to find out if I can. I think the pressure doesn’t bother me, I think it helps me and if I can already have this pressure, on paper, it may be good for me. »Portimao, as a permanent circuit« Yes. I love Portimao. I liked Friday more than Saturday and Sunday, because of how it went, but that track is very beautiful and I liked finishing there. If we have to go back, I would like to do it with a test beforehand, so that what happened to us the previous weekend does not happen to us ».