Joan Mir can finally talk about the new contract with Honda: the world champion will have to share the garage with Marc Marquez.
It was a pretty unfortunate season for Joan Mir, 2020 world champion with Suzuki. The news of its manufacturer’s farewell to the World Championship kicked off a waning phase that has been going on since Jerez de la Frontera, when the incredible business plan aimed at financial savings to invest in the sector has begun to wind in the paddock. automotive.
The first move was to look for a new team for 2023, together with manager Paco Sanchez he immediately started intense talks with Alberto Puig and Repsol Honda. A long push and pull that lasted a few months before the official announcement, from next year he will share the box with Marc Marquez, on a motorcycle that finds itself in a moment of profound difficulty. The bet does not worry Joan Mir too much: “I know I’m not coming to Honda at the best time, but that makes it an even more interesting challenge“.
Mir and Marquez: two champions in the same box
Now the priority is to finish this last championship in the best way on the saddle Suzuki GSX-RR. In the last eight races he has collected six zeros and even an injury at the Red Bull Ring, which forced him to miss the appointment in San Marino with a fractured right ankle. On Thursday in the Aragon paddock Joan Mir received the ok from the doctors to return to MotoGP competitions. “Watching races from the couch isn’t the most exciting thing in the world“, Admitted the Majorcan.
Difficult to find reasons when you know that your team will no longer be part of the championship of MotoGP in less than two months. However, it will be essential to regain self-confidence before starting the new HRC chapter in the best way. “The important thing now is to finish the season in the best possible way, finish this year in good shape and prepare for the next one“.
Despite some skirmishes in the past between Joan Mir and Marc Marquez, a good professional bond begins to be established. “We met the other day in karting. She welcomed me, it will be a beautiful, complicated challenge. But even when we got to Suzuki it was a complicated challenge and we won it“. The eight-time world champion is satisfied with Honda’s choice: “He will be a tough rival to beat, but first of all he will have to be a teammate because we will have to work together to raise the situation and reach the ultimate goal, which is to fight to win races and the World Cup.“.
