Joan Mir without crew chief Carchedi, O'Kane to replace

Reigning MotoGP champion Joan Mir will be without his usual crew chief Frankie Carchedi during this weekend's Portimao round.

The Englishman has tested positive for Covid-19 and is now in isolation.

The diagnosis was made during pre-travel checks before Carchedi had arrived in Portugal and the rest of the Suzuki team has tested negative.

Crash.net has been told that Carchedi had his first shot of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the UK before the Qatar test and therefore did not receive the pair of Pfizer vaccinations offered to the paddock in Qatar. In order to provide maximum immunity, the two AstraZeneca jabs are issued 12-weeks apart.

Alongside the rest of the Suzuki team, Carchedi had remained in Qatar from the opening test until the second race weekend. Due to quarantine rules in the UK, many British-based paddock members did not travel home during the weekend off between Qatar and Portimao.

Carchedi, who is currently understood to be in Andorra, does not have any symptoms at present.

Replacing Carchedi this weekend will be the vastly experienced Tom O’Kane, who currently serves as Sylvain Guintoli’s crew chief in the Suzuki test team. The Irishman also previously worked as race team crew chief for Aleix Espargaro.

Mir is currently sixth in the world championship, having finished in fourth and sixth places in Qatar.

Carchedi’s situation will be assessed again ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez.