Joan Mir finishes fourth and Alex Rins sixth in #QatarGP

The first race of the 2021 MotoGP World Championship season got underway with an electric atmosphere and a special light show for the riders, teams, and socially-distanced spectators.

Conditions were cooler and windier than those experienced so far, and the soft-soft tyre combination was the choice for the entire field.

From their ninth and 10th grid positions, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s riders got decent starts, and they managed the first laps well. By the third lap they were already working their way through the pack.

By the ninth lap of the race, Alex Rins had worked his way up to the leading group of riders, and shortly after he had moved into a Top-5 position. Meanwhile, Joan Mir was getting into a strong rhythm behind his team-mate. With six laps to go, the Suzuki pair were both in podium contention thanks to their hard work, consistency, and determination.

Rins began to experience some tyre wear after pushing in the early laps but he managed to hold onto a very solid sixth place. Mir was able to move into third on lap 20, before swiftly heading into a great second on the last lap. He took a wide sweeping line onto the final straight to try and avoid the full force of the slipstream from the competitors behind him but slipped to fourth on the line.

Joan Mir:

“I feel good, it was a nice race. I made a step this morning in warm-up and I regained my feeling with the bike – that was the most important thing. The bike worked so well today, and I’m really grateful to the team. I tried to push hard and get the most from the bike and the tyres, recovering places and managing well. I’m happy with how it worked out even if it would’ve been great to finish second! But I had a feeling those Ducatis would overtake me

on the straight in the slipstream, and I’m still satisfied with fourth. We’ll take what we learned and go for next weekend. I’m feeling positive and ready for more.”

Alex Rins:

“My start was not one of my best ones, so I had to push a lot to recover the positions I lost and catch up with the leading group. Already six laps before Joan passed me I was beginning to struggle with the tyres, so I think I cooked them. I did my best, and I’m pretty happy, but in the end I couldn’t manage to go higher. The bike felt good and my pace was strong, so I’m ready for next week!”