Joan Mir produced his second best finish of the year at the German Grand Prix, with an impressive seventh place for the Ecstar Suzuki team.
This comes after two top eight finishes, including a season high of sixth in Catalunya. The former Moto3 champion had a race-long duel with the three Ducati’s of Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci and Jack Miller.
Before that, Mir was finding it difficult to get past the Yamaha pairing of Valentino Rossi and Franco Morbidelli in the early stages.
The 21 year-old ran wide at turn one on separate occasions when trying to get through, but once he found his rhythm, the Spaniard made his pace advantage tell.
Once Mir was ahead, he wasted no time in catching the group in front and picked the riders off one-by-one. With only a few laps remaining, Mir seemed to struggle for rear grip at the last turn, which allowed Dovizioso and Petrucci to use the Ducati grunt down the main straight and recover the positions.
Mir was fearless in his battles and delivered some great overtakes at turn thirteen, even with Sachserning being notoriously difficult to overtake at.
“It was really nice to fight for top positions in a quick group, but I made some mistakes and I had to recover some places, which cost me a bit.”
“Anyway, I’m happy with my performance and my pace, it was difficult to pass the other riders in front of me, but I gave it my best shot and I could bring home seventh. Now it’s time for a little break with my family, and then I’ll start preparing for part two!”
Every race that Mir can compete at the front with perennial race winners, will only help in his development going forward.
With Brno next up up in three weeks, it could be another good showing for the rookie with fast flowing corners being a strength of the Suzuki bike.
