Joan Mir had not appeared publicly since Honda announced that he will be Marc Márquez’s new partner in the official Repsol Honda team in 2023. The Spaniard was injured on the first lap of the Red Bull Ring race and after missing the weekend and tests in Misano, will return to action this weekend at the Aragon Grand Prix .
This Thursday morning, the Suzuki rider passed a medical check-up in which he was cleared to start FP1 this Friday.
“They made me run on one leg in a room, so my foot is a little swollen,” laughed Joan Mir to certify that he had satisfactorily passed the tests he had undergone at the circuit clinic.
“I feel good, I’m not one hundred percent, I know it’s going to hurt, but it is what it is, I didn’t want to miss two races. The key will be to recover well, ice and that the foot does not swell. From here , trying to get in place as soon as possible in FP1, is important after missing a weekend and two days of testing”, referring to Misano.
During the official press conference prior to the Aragón Grand Prix, Mir ran into some members of HRC, which will be his new home from 2023, and they repeatedly asked him about it, how could it be otherwise.
“You have to be polite and say hello,” he said. “I am very happy with the announcement finally, because I had been asking about the future for many races, being able to have it already confirmed relieves me a bit, although now they will ask me about other things,” he added.
“I am not arriving at the best moment for Honda and we all know that, but we also know what factory it is and the potential they can have, so arriving at this time and in this way makes it a challenge and gives it more interest than having done it. in a good moment, as they have had in the past”, he valued.
“Now I will try to finish the season in the best possible way with Suzuki and then we have a very nice challenge ahead.”
Mir admitted that he had already exchanged some first words with his new teammate, Marc Márquez.
“We coincided training earlier in the week right here (MotorLand), and he welcomed me, we’ve only talked about it.
It is not an easy mission, just reviewing the last year of Dani Pedrosa, the passage of Jorge Lorenzo or now, more recently, Pol Espargaró, the seat of the Honda looks like a torture horse.
“The challenge motivates, it does not scare. It is clear that the difficulty of the rest is what makes it interesting. I think that when I arrived at Suzuki it was not a great time for them either, it was a long-term project and we carried it out together. I come of a team that we have fought and we have achieved, I don’t see why we are not going to get good results with them”, he said before warning, almost begging, that the questions about his new team cease.
“I am not allowed by contract to talk much about the Honda issue, nor do I think it is ethically correct,” he tried to settle before they insisted on it again, not in vain wearing the colors of Honda in motorcycling is the dream of any pilot .
“I can’t get into trouble, right now expressing feelings can create a problem for me,” he warned.
What Mir did point out is that “everything that Marc Márquez can improve the bike this year is going to go perfectly for me. Then, when I arrive, we’ll think about whether something needs to be changed”, in reference to his driving style.
The one from Mallorca showed great professionalism and respect towards a team, Suzuki, which at the end of the season will slam the door and leave the MotoGP World Championship the way it came. Despite this, Joan wants to finish in the best possible way.
“It is difficult to have motivation in this final part of the season, we have had a difficult year and now a fucking injury, it has not been anything but it has made me stop suddenly. But I also think that working, recovering during these two weeks, has given me like hunger to get here and do it well, it has motivated me, something I needed because we are not in the best moment, neither for Suzuki nor for myself. me”.
Champion in 2020, Mir does not have a clear favorite for the title this year. “I have no preferences, but I see how Pecco Bagnaia has been arriving in the last races, I also see that Fabio Quartararo is always there, and that Aleix Espargaró has not had the best circuits for him in the last races. But Pecco is coming very strong and Fabio He will have to manage it and stop that streak a bit, because if they don’t have the chance to win, those in red”, in reference to Ducati.
