MotoGP championship leader Mir upbeat despite poor qualifying

Suzuki Ecstar rider and MotoGP championship leader Joan Mir plans to make quick work of passing the slower riders in front of him at Sunday’s Alcaniz Grand Prix at Motorland Aragon.

Mir knows that his Suzuki has the race pace after his teammate Alex Rins won at the same track in the previous round of the MotoGP championship from tenth on the grid.

Mir positive

The Spaniard is disappointed to be starting from 12th on the grid remains upbeat on his chances of wroking his way through the field and building on a six-point MotoGP Championship lead.

“I’m disappointed with how my qualifying went,” Mir said. “I could certainly do better. Instead, I’ll have to start from behind. Unfortunately, with the soft tire, I couldn’t find the feelings I wanted and, consequently, I struggled. I also made some small mistakes that compromised my performance.

“I’m not down, since I have my pace. If I didn’t have my pace, I’d be worried, but I’m better with my pace than last week. I’ll be starting twelfth with several Ducatis behind me that’ll be angry, but I have to try to think only of myself. Last Sunday, Marquez and Rins arrived on the podium starting from behind, and I’ll have to do the same.”

Mir has targeted a podium finish at Motorland Aragon on Sunday afternoon while his first goal should be to get ahead of championship rivals Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Viñales who start from sixth and fourth respectively.

“My goal is to have a good race and try to get on the podium, obviously trying to win if there’s a chance. Taka and Rins are fast and can, therefore, aim for an important result. At the start, it’ll be essential to be intelligent, since I’ll find riders in front of me who don’t have the race pace to win. It’s exactly for this reason that I’ll have to overtake them without wasting so much time. During this weekend, we worked hard to avoid any problems on the front, and I’m confident.”

An interesting grid

LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami snatched pole position in Saturday’s qualifying ahead of the Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli and the Suzuki of Rins.

Mir holds a six-point championship lead having gathered 121 points this season despite having yet to record a race win in the premier class.

With three rounds left after Sunday’s Grand Prix it looks like the MotoGP championship could go down to the wire.

MotoGP Championship standings ahead of Teruel GP