Joan Mir says he was “super happy” to collect his second podium of the year at Misano after charging past home hero Valentino Rossi on the final lap.
The Suzuki man lamented his early race speed though, circulating in the lower reaches of the top ten after qualifying eighth before finding grip late on and carving his way through to third-missing out on grabbing second from Francesco Bagnaia by just 0.073.
The ’18 Moto3 world champion revealed he lacked “stability” in fast corners as well as “missing something” in general across the early stages of the San Marino Grand Prix, but added that he is “happy” that his GSX-RR now seems competitive at every venue MotoGP visits.
“I’m super happy because another podium is really important for me, it looks like we are competitive at every track now so I’m happy about that,” said Mir.
“The last lap was really nice, I felt great on the bike in the last part of the race, I was able to ride really comfortably and be fast, but I was missing something at the beginning of the race.
“I didn’t have as much grip as the other riders, so not the same stability in the fast corners I was struggling with that, so this was our weak point in this race so let’s see if we can improve in that area in the test (at Misano) on Tuesday.
“For me the bit that was missing was to be a little bit more competitive with the new tyre, so if we improve in this area we will do better in qualifying and also in the first laps of the race, so for me that is what I’m missing at the moment.”
Mir’s second career podium ensured he has now finished in the top five in all four races he has completed this season, his two retirements limiting him to fourth in the riders standings-albeit just 16 points shy of leader Andrea Dovizioso.
