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He's no longer a surprise. Joan Mir has undoubtedly proved to one of this season's revelations in Moto3. The Spaniard, having come fourth in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, has stolen a lot of the attention this season. Last year he got just a taste of the championship when he stood in for Ono at Phillip Island, while 2016 saw him promoted to the Leopard team.
It quickly became clear that the Spaniard was in a hurry to impress, scoring fifth place already at Rio Hondo behind his team-mate Locatelli. This was a clue as to what he could do and, in subsequent races, he consistently finished inside the top ten, with the exception of Le Mans and an unfortunate retirement at the Sachsenring.
The road to victory turned out to be shorter than expected... In Austria he took care of every last detail, scoring his first historic win in the world championship at only 18 years of age at the Red Bull Ring track. Joan Mir hails from Parma de Mallorca, just like Jorge Lorenzo, and we have no doubt that he wants to follow in his fellow countryman's footsteps.
The recent Misano weekend again saw him play a starring role. This time he didn't win but that's almost irrelevant, because the third step of the podium serves as yet another confirmation of the Spaniard's competitiveness. He got the better of Nicolò Bulega, before summing up the race in just a few words: “It was one of my best races, a third place that tastes almost like a win”. A win that Mir will undoubtedly be chasing at the next round of the championship, taking place in less than two weeks' time at Aragon, in front of his home crowd. The perfect occasion on which to relaunch the fight for the Rookie of the Year title, with Bulega currently just seven points ahead.
In the meantime, the team has already secured its asset and the Spaniard will be in Leopard colours again in 2017. With Locatelli set to move to Moto2, the Spaniard becomes, to all intents and purposes, the new reference point with whom to aim for the title. If this isn't planning...
