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It was another good day for Joan Mir who took his sixth podium of the season today in the second MotoGP race at Aragon. Needless to say, the world championship leader, who is making consistency of results his secret weapon, currently tops this special ranking but it should also be pointed out that Joan has not yet won a race this season. No rider in the history of the premier class has ever triumphed in a world championship without winning a GP, Mir has 3 chances left. The question is will he be able to score the 25 points?
"The important thing is to win the championship, even without winning a single race. Today honestly I would have signed up for a podium finish because I knew it would be difficult to get one from 12th on the grid. I tried not to lose time at the start of the race, I overtook all the other riders as quickly as possible to get in front and reduce the gap from the leaders but I didn't have any more than that. In the first laps I didn't think about the championship, then I realized that it would be impossible to go and get Alex and Franco and so I preferred not to push to avoid the risk of crashing ”.
In the first few laps, however, you achieved an incredible progression of overtaking on the limit and taking risks. With such a tight world championship how are you approaching these situations and how will you manage the next races from this point of view?
“I know I can't make mistakes but I also have to be fast and to be fast I have to take risks. The important thing is to find a balance between speed and risk, you need a compromise. For the next races it will be important not to change anything in my approach or in my strategy, I have to be smart because Valencia will be important, there the championship can be decided because then there will be only one race left. For my health I'd like to have some points in my pocket before Portimao ”.
Today, once again in front of you is your teammate Alex Rins, who is back in the race for the championship. How is the competition between you?
"Today, giving a little more would have been too much. I know I did a great race but Alex (and Morbidelli too) were too far ahead and they had a spectacular race. Today the championship was more important than beating Rins, he started ahead of me and immediately got into the top positions while I had to recover and for this reason, perhaps, I was penalized a little by the tyre at the end, especially in turn 2".
Joan, you have already won a world championship in Moto3. What are the differences between that championship in 2017 and this one?
“In the first races of the season I was not one of the favourites while when I won in Moto3 I was. The pressure is always the same but this year it came a bit later. There are many riders here who can win, we are all close and so I am very careful not to make any mistakes. In Austria I made a step forward from a mental point of view and I have always felt better on the bike, it has been the key to my season”.
