Joan Mir ‘able to ride fast’ despite ‘disaster’ result

But some of the lap times set by Mir as he rose from 19th on the grid to 11th pointed to a ‘good improvement’: “I was able to ride fast - not for a lot of laps, but fast.”

“Honestly even if I crashed, so the result is a disaster, I could see some potential,” explained the Repsol Honda rider.

“I made a good start, but then [tangled] with Morbidelli and was probably one of the last in that moment.

“Then I started to recover, and I arrived to the group behind Jack [Miller, sixth].

“I started to make mid-‘31s in that part of the race. And if you check the only one that was doing [clearly] better lap times, by a couple tenths, was [race leader] Martin.”

From lap 8 until 11, just before his crash, Mir set times between 1m 31.5-31.6s.

Martin varied between 1m 31.0-31.4s over the same period, with eventual winner Francesco Bagnaia setting 1m 31.3-31.5s.

“So that was a good improvement,” Mir continued. “I'm quite happy for it. But it's also true that we are very, very on the knife edge and [the fall] is what it is.

“I’m disappointed not to be able to finish the race. But we took some positives from this race.”

Mir, who briefly flirted with the 2024 prototype at Motegi, confirmed he is using, “The same bike as in the first race in Portimao.

“So we cannot do miracles with this bike. Tracks like [Mandalika] probably are the worst ones for our package. Where we struggle more.

“Maybe if we go to the tracks with more stop-and-go, we struggle less, as in Motegi or India. But in Malaysia we will struggle the same.”

And what about this weekend in Phillip Island?

“Normally hot temperature for our bike is not very good. We spin a lot. So in Phillip Island we will not have that problem!” he smiled.

“It’s true that the track is a challenge for every rider, also because we only go there once in a year.

“With the huge fairings, the wind will be a challenge for everyone. With the slipstream and everything it will be intense to make the races there!

“But yeah, I will try to score points and put the result together because after India I think that we made a step, and today I was able to ride fast - not for a lot of laps - but fast.”