Mir ‘has too much trouble at Suzuki’ to look at Honda’s MotoGP woes
Joan Mir admits Suzuki “has a lot of trouble” within the team right now as its tough 2022 MotoGP season continues for him to pay much attention to Honda’s woes.
With Suzuki quitting MotoGP at the end of the 2022 season, 2020 world champion Mir has been left without a ride for next year.
Mir is set to join the factory Honda squad next season alongside Marc Marquez, with Pol Espargaro nearing a return to KTM and Tech3.
Since announcing its decision to quit MotoGP at the end of 2022 following May’s French Grand Prix, Suzuki has double DNF'd in three of the last four events – including most recently in Germany, where Mir crashed early on and Alex Rins failed to start due to injury.
Suzuki’s dearth has coincided with Honda’s worst result in 40 years, when it failed to score a point for the first time since the 1982 French GP last weekend in Germany.
Looking like he will be jumping from one tough situation into another at Honda next year, Mir said on Sunday: “We have a lot of trouble in our team to look at Honda.
“It’s not that we’re having a great time. Evidently, they are not having a good time.”
Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Mir lamented his rear tyre choice for the German GP, as he went for the hard option instead of the medium having made a late switch on the grid.
This ultimately led to a slow start to the race as the hard needed a couple of laps to get up to working range, by which time he’d been shuffled out of the top 10.
Battling with KTM’s Miguel Oliveira into Turn 1 on the fourth lap, the Portuguese rider nudged Mir out wide and onto the dirty part of the track, where he crashed.
“We probably didn’t make the right decision on the grid regarding the rear tyre,” Mir added. “I always believe in the advice the team gives me.
“In the crash, I got too close to Oliveira when I was going through the corner and that made me lose the line a little.”
On Monday Autosport reported that Mir’s team-mate Rins is also in talks about a Honda move in 2023 to take Alex Marquez’s place at LCR.
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