Mir ‘physically 100%, remembers everything’ from Brno

Joan Mir is confident he has fully recovered from his Brno horror smash and believes the two weeks confident of “fighting for a good position” at this weekend’s MotoGP outing at Misano.

The Majorcan was involved in a terrifying turn one fall toward the end of the Brno test in early August. Subsequent tests confirmed his Suzuki GSX-RR had suffered a technical failure that caused him to fall at well over 120mph.

The subsequent impact with the airfence caused contusions to his lungs, meaning he needed weeks of complete rest. “I couldn’t do anything,” he said of the recovery period that required him to miss the Austrian and British GPs.

“I remember everything that happened,” he said of his Brno crash. “It was the last exit. We had been in the top three all test, we were going really good, really constant, showing a really good pace.

“Well, I crashed in the first corner for a technical problem, it was not my fault. And at the end, I remember that it was difficult for me to breathe, I had blood on my mouth, but the medical people came really fast, and it was quite fast everything.

“I also have to say thank you to Karel Abraham, who came to the hospital with his father to ask if everything is OK and if we need something, so it was really good thing for this, and I want to say thank you for that.”

Mir made his return to MotoGP action at the two-day Misano test that followed the British GP. Despite feeling physically drained by the afternoon of the second day, he confidently declared he is now operating at full fitness.

“Sincerely, physically I'm 100%. We have to see technically how I feel on the bike again after two races at home. For sure I will be at a bit of a disadvantage, but to be on the top level again and to see if we can fight for a good position in the race.

“On the second day in the afternoon, I was really tired, I was a bit on the limit. But I had two weeks to get ready, to work a little bit more at home, and now I'm stronger. Probably I'm even more trained than before, because I had more time to train.

“[After the crash] I couldn't do anything,” he said. “No strength training, nothing. I was stopped completely for two weeks, without moving or anything, and you lose muscle mass.

“I remember I went training with a motocross bike and I was doing five minutes and I was destroyed. But this I have improved a lot. Now I'm like normal, and it's more that I missed two races and I need to adapt again the muscles to a MotoGP bike.

“You can always train as much as you like, but the day after the MotoGP you always have pain in your muscles. It's always like this.”

On watching races from home, Mir explained, “I don't like to races on TV! I don't like it! I hate it! It's not good, because I wished that I was there.

“It's not nice to see Austria, for example, Alex was struggling there, I was saying, 'f**k, for sure if I am there everything would be better, because we would push each other, more data'. Sylvain [Guintoli – Suzuki test rider] was not there.

“And then I was so happy when the team won in Silverstone, Alex did a really good job, the bike was fantastic on the TV. I was watching it but it was not nice because I was there on the sofa. But this is racing.”

On whether he had to overcome any mental barriers after such a violent crash, Mir added, “All these negative things, you have to avoid in your head. This is something, the more you think about it, the worse it is, sincerely. I want to be at 100% as soon as possible, I don't have time to think about these things.”