Joan Mir: 'We did a great test and have a great base'

Joan Mir completed 48 laps on day two of the opening MotoGP test in Qatar which was topped by Monster Energy Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo.

The 2020 world champion ended the day early, but still managed to finish in eighth place, two spots ahead of his team-mate Alex Rins.

Mir focused his track time on several new parts which included a new chassis that has also been tested by Rins and test rider Sylvain Guintoli. The 2021 GSX-RR also has a new swing arm and electronic parts that were tried by Mir in advance of the 2021 season. 

Speaking about his feelings with the new GSX-RR, Mir said: "It was a tough day because today we focused on trying the new things.

"We tried a new chassis today and we tried some different parts of the electronics to understand a bit more what is working and what is not.

"Also we tried the different tyres and I'm quite happy about the performance and the lap time because we are not far. We did a great test and have a great base.

With it being the first of two tests in Doha, Mir will get the chance to find out more about the new parts over the next three days of running before the season officially gets underway on March 28. 

Mir added: "My feedback on the chassis is that some things are negative. It was not a revolution in the first moment.

"It was a bit better on the handling, but then on some other areas like the braking for example it is not so good. 

"We have to work on that and to know if we can fix it with the setting or if not, and that is why we have three more days of testing to find out."

One of the big talking points in 2020, was the start device deployed by several teams. It was initially started by Ducati who ran it throughout the season, but new for this winter is the use of starting devices at the front and rear. Mir was asked about the Suzuki system.

"Yes it is something that if everybody uses it and it works then we have to push Suzuki to do it," said the Spaniard.   

"At the moment I don’t know if it works or not, but I remember when Ducati was the first one to use it and I remember we had it a few races later but not immediately.

"So I think that in this case we will have to wait. We don’t have it at the moment [front and rear], but our starting device is working well and performs good. But MotoGP means improving and if we need it we will do it."