Second place as good as a win for Joan Mir at Misano

At a flooded Misano, Joan Mir conquered the second step of the podium behind Lonely Fenati. Now the advantage of Majorca’s world-class talent is 61 points over the Italian.

After the sun and the mild temperatures of yesterday, Misano woke up this morning with rain knocking away the plans of riders and teams on the most important day of the whole weekend. With teammate Livio Loi watching from the box after the accident that caused a broken collarbone, it was now up to Joan Mir to best represent the colours of the Leopard Racing Team.

Majorca’s talent started from the second-place on the front row alongside Martin, after pole man Bastianini was penalised for dangerous riding. At the first corne, Mir put himself right behind the Gresni pair, but Diggia attacked straight away and Fenati took advantage of it to take second place. Already in the second lap, the first three detached from the group and went alone, while Bastianini slips away.

On the third lap, Fenati passed Martin for the lead and opened an incredible gap. On the fifth lap there were scary moments for both Martin and Mir: the two Spaniards swapping positions as big moments forced each of them wide. But on the ninth lap Martin lost the front at Turn 1 and Mir moved up to second. Further behind, riders battled for the third step of the podium, Diggia and Canet the most likely candidates. But at three laps from the end Canet fell and the Italian cemented himself in third.

Joan Mir cut the finish line in second place and maintains the leadership of the Moto3 category, 61 points ahead of today’s winner Fenati. The rematch between the two will take place in just two weeks, on the weekend 22-24 September, at MotorLand Aragon.

#36 Joan MIR – 2nd:
“Under these conditions it is like a victory! I started pushing but I saw the track was very slippery (especially the left corners) so I tried to clear the gap but saw that I could not do more. I’m happy about how I managed the situation, not without a couple of big scares (even in the Warm Up lap!). These are the races where you learn a great deal, maybe this was the most difficult I’ve ever had. I do not want to make calculations about Championship. Misano and Aragon are two key rounds. I want to congratulate Romano [Fenati] for his impeccable conduct with an impressive pace and wish Livio [Loi] a speedy recovery.”