MotoGP Austin: ‘Fantastic’ fourth for Mir, ‘starting to feel like 2020’

Joan Mir was just 1.5 seconds away from joining his Ecstar teammate for Suzuki’s 500th Grand Prix podium celebrations on Sunday.

The 2020 MotoGP Champion came home in fourth position at the AmericasGP, an impressive feat for Mir, who started eighth and openly admits to never gelling with the Texas track.

“I have to be happy,”Mir admitted Stateside before the flight home. “To be able to finish with this performance in Austin is something great. I got my best results here. Means that we are strong because it’s not a track that I enjoy, honestly, and it’s not my favourite track. We’ve done a great race. We are improving our performance with this bike and I’m feeling race-by-race more and more comfortable.

“This year we are strong. I’m sure that in Europe we will make the next click and we will start to be stronger.

“In this track I was missing a bit,” he explained on his 20-lap race troubles. “In Argentina, we’ve been stronger and on this track I always miss something. I had trouble in the right corners with the front, something was happening that I didn’t understand.

“I had a lot of big moments on the right handers so we have to analyse. I think that that is what we were missing to fight today for the victory or a podium.

“Normally with this trouble I’m always angry, but this time for position in Austin is fantastic! I’ve done the strongest race of my life here in Austin, normally I am not that competitive. I’m happy to start to make races like in 2020. That was a year that I enjoyed!”

Harnessing the positive momentum, Mir is eager to return to Europe and his more favoured venues.

“Portimao is the track that I always enjoy. I’ve always been pretty competitive and I think that we will be able to make a good race there. So we