Mir fears current Suzuki "not enough" to fight for MotoGP title

Mir’s difficulties in qualifying on the Suzuki in 2021 continued at Assen, with the Suzuki rider once again forced to fight his way through from the fourth row of the grid in 10th.

With the Suzuki lacking the rear ride height device of its rivals, Mir had to make aggressive moves as he worked his way through the order and managed to salvage his third podium of the season.

Mir admits this podium ahead of the summer break was “important” for both himself and Suzuki, but concedes his current bike isn’t strong enough to defend his title at present.

“I think that it will be a boost of energy to try to be better on the second part of the season,” Mir, who is 55 points off the championship lead, said.

“Like this with this package it’s probably not enough to fight for the title, so we must work on it, work on the bike, work on myself, always try to improve more.

“But I’m so happy about the race overall because I think we couldn’t expect much more from this race.

“These two guys [Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales] were really, really fast all weekend.

“They rode the bike in a really good level and it was really difficult for me to be close to them.

“But I did what I had to do on the first laps, always it’s really to difficult to overtake Honda and Ducatis, it’s always a nightmare.

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“But I tried to do my maximum and do clever overtakes. Of course, I’m always struggling to overtake the Ducatis, so maybe some overtake is a bit on the limit.

“I never touch [anyone] but I always make some block pass to them, so sorry for these overtakes but it’s always really difficult.

“Jack [Miller] will be angry because again the overtake was a block pass and I don’t like to make these overtakes, but he’s fast on the straights and he brakes hard. So, it’s difficult.”

Mir says Suzuki bringing its own rear ride height device for the second half of the season will be pivotal, but also notes that the marque needs to get to the bottom of its woes in qualifying.

“First, we must work on the device because there are a lot of tracks that this device can make a huge difference to start in the same position as the others,” he said.

“So, this we must do. Then to work a little bit on the details of the bike that always make the difference.

“So, for my part we have to understand with the team what we need to be stronger on qualifying to make a good lap time because always the pace that I’m able to do is not far from the lap that I do in qualifying pushing like an animal.

“So, it’s difficult to understand but we will find a solution.”