After gaining a certain advantage over Fabio Quartararo at the start, the 2020 world champion took advantage of Alex Rins ‘ misfortune and moved up to fourth position, behind the official Ducati riders and Enea Bastianini. The first few laps confirmed that Joan Mir had the chance to get his first podium of the season at the French Grand Prix, until a crash ended his chances.
In this way, Suzuki left Le Mans with zero points with the withdrawal of Alex Rins. “Of course it’s not easy. The important thing is that we give everything. I’m sure we’re doing well.”
“I’m happy because at one point in the race, I was the strongest,” the Suzuki rider introduced. “Before I crashed I was getting back into the lead group, so I don’t know where we would have finished, but I think we could have challenged for the podium [on Sunday].”
“The fall was mentally painful,” admitted the Spaniard after finishing the race. “On Sunday I had to go through Q1 when I didn’t expect it. We modified the bike a bit, I was able to find the speed to qualify more or less well.”
“I immediately felt good on the tyres, and that was good for us because I was able to do really consistent lap times. I made a mistake, went wide and immediately got back to the leaders. We had to handle the situation, and I didn’t do well.” .
The Majorcan rider believes his braking difficulties were caused by the three Ducatis in front of him.
“I tried to brake too hard, but it was too late, so I had to brake a bit more than usual, and when I let go of the brakes, I lost the front end.
“I think it’s [caused by] the aerodynamics … as you feel less of the air when you’re behind them.”
“We probably don’t get the opportunity that we need, we had some blank results […] and there’s also what’s going on at Suzuki and the fact that we were among the strongest [on Sunday] makes it hurt a little bit more. “, he concluded.
