Joan Mir: Difficult Honda start “similar to my rookie season at Suzuki”

The 2020 world champion has finished in the points just once so far this season, an eleventh place in the Portimao season-opener.

Mir’s cause wasn’t helped by a sprint race injury in Termas, ruling him out of the Sunday race, but he heads into this weekend’s French Grand Prix just 20th in the world championship.

Meanwhile, former Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins is eighth in the standings for the LCR Honda team, with two podiums and a victory in COTA.

But Mir insists it hasn’t been tougher than he expected:

“No, it's exactly how I expected,” Mir said. “You always want more and you start very optimistic and everything, but I knew that the start always is difficult.

“I remember my start in Suzuki, being a rookie, without experience, one year in Moto2 going there, with a bike that in the first year is not easy until you find something.

“It's a little bit similar situation, but with more experience, and also knowing what I want to be fast. Sooner or later, we will reach the position that we deserve, I know.”

Mir scored points in just one of his opening five MotoGP races for Suzuki in 2019, and missed two mid-season rounds due to injury.

But he fought back to deliver a strong finish to the year, followed by his first podiums, win and the world title in 2020.

Mir heads to this weekend’s Le Mans round having qualified 20th and then crashed out of both the previous Jerez races.

“With the hot temperature, we have a problem that every time I try to push, to carry more speed in the corner, I lose the front. So the limit is there for my style, for how I approach the corner,” he explained.

“We just have to be patient and to find a solution. It's not that I'm not trying, but it's like there's a limit there. Because if there isn't, you don't crash. So we just have to give me [something] that allows me to make the corner.”

The Spaniard then spent the Monday test at Jerez trying to increase confidence in the front, having suggested that their base setting might also need changing.

“The base that we have is a base that we made race by race, and being also a rookie [on the Honda] in Sepang [test], without knowing the bike a lot. So maybe we have to go back a bit,” Mir had said.

The 25-year-old also retried a different RCV chassis during the Monday test, when he was 15th fastest.

“We wanted to make a back-to-back with a different chassis that we tried in the preseason, and my feelings were a bit better,” he said. “Maybe all the crashes that I had were a bit related to that, and with the other chassis, I was able to feel a bit better.

“Then when I said that, we put new tyres, and I destroyed the bike in Turn 6! Not destroyed the bike but I lost the front in Turn 6. So that complicated a little bit the day, because then I had to go with the base and work on some geometry and stuff.

“So I could find some interesting stuff, but I couldn't put it all together.

“But I think we made a small step in confidence. The priority was to improve the feeling with the front. And now my impression is that even if I didn't put a soft tyre, I was always with mediums, my confidence with the front improved and I was able to carry more speed in the corner.

“So that's something that I'm happy about because during the [race] weekend, I wasn't able to turn the bike with more corner speed, like my style. And now more or less the direction is a good one to follow. So let's see.”

Opening practice at Le Mans takes place on Friday morning.