Mir Breaking Records
F
or a figure that rarely appears
flustered, Joan Mir admitted
to the stresses behind his first
MotoGP World title. "I was look-
ing calm and I was looking with-
out pressure, but I was not calm
and I was not without pressure,"
he admitted. "I was just nervous.
The truth that this year was
especially difficult because we
don't have only the pressure on
track. We also had the pressure
at home to don't get the virus."
Aside from becoming the
seventh-youngest rider in history to
win the premier-class crown, Joan
Mir is the fourth Spaniard to do
so. He's the first figure to win both
the Moto3 and MotoGP World
Championships and the first since
Wayne Rainey in 1992 to clinch it
without scoring a pole position.
In a campaign that has brought
one win and six further podiums,
Mir assumed control of the cham-
pionship after his third place at the
Aragon Grand Prix. But, he re-
vealed, it was after a triplet of podi-
ums in September when he realized
the title could be his this year.
It was not just a historic day
for Mir. Suzuki basked in its first
MotoGP title in 20 years and its
first of MotoGP's four-stroke era.
Mir is only the sixth rider in his-
tory to win a premier-class crown
for the Hamamatsu factory, after
Barry Sheene, Marco Lucchinelli,
Franco Uncini, Kevin Schwantz
and Kenny Roberts Jr.
The GSX-RR has rightly been
lauded as 2020's most complete
bike, its brilliant chassis now
complimented by a punchier
engine and more sophisticated
electronics setup. It's been quite
the progression for a bike that
debuted in the class at the close
of 2014. The victory was particu-
larly fitting as 2020 marks the
100-year anniversary of the fac-
tory's existence. It's also the 60th
anniversary of its racing debut.
"If I would have been a film
editor and thinking a script for a
movie, I wouldn't think so well,"
said team boss Davide Brivio.
"Joan has been incredible. I
think we are in front of somebody
special with Joan. Alex [Rins]
also did an incredible job if you
consider his injury and a couple
of mistakes. He could have been
there also, [but] Joan was more
consistent. But we scored five
double-podiums. This shows also
how competitive we were with
both of them. So we are very
proud of what we have done."
Neil Morrison
IN
THE
WIND
P44
Joan Mir's win
proved that nice
guys do, indeed,
finish first.
