MotoGP Argentina: ‘Straightaway we can be faster’ - Mir

Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir has a longer than expected wait before hitting the track at Termas de Rio Hondo for this weekend’s Argentina GP.

With the schedule condensed to fit all free practice and qualifying sessions into Saturday’s running, after the paddock’s cargo failed to arrive to South America from Indonesia in time for Friday’s action, the MotoGP riders have a challenge on their hands. It’s a prospect made tougher by the championship’s two year absence and limited use of the Argentine facility.

“Here we are living a strange situation and as a rider we have to stay focused,” Mir explained from the Termas paddock. “To don’t think a lot about these things and pray to have a great Saturday!

“We are living a difficult situation in the world and we are also recovering from two years COVID and these things I think that can happen now in these hard times. As a rider we have to do our job, to rest tomorrow and to try to be ready on Sunday.

“Is a track that can suit our bike, in the past the bike got one podium and this is something great,” he continued on his GSX-RR’s prospects this weekend. “Also, the fact that there’s only one day to clean the track means that we will not have the track at 100 per cent. So this is something that we know clear that will be like that. I didn’t make one lap already to check the track and everything but I expect that the track will be dirty.

“Two years without activity is a long time. FP1 will be important to get the feelings then clean a bit the track and to put the bike a little bit for FP2, to find the better conditions, better grip and to try to attack for a lap time but I expected that in FP2 the track will be not perfect.

“It will be like this, if we have luck and everything is how the