MotoGP Le Mans: “Mentally it destroys you” - Joan Mir “scared” of ending up like Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaro

2020 MotoGP champion Joan Mir claims he’s worried of becoming the next Honda rider to fail after Jorge Lorenzo and Pol Espargaro.
Joan Mir, Honda MotoGP Le Mans 2023
Joan Mir, Honda MotoGP Le Mans 2023

Both Lorenzo and Espargaro secured big moves to Repsol Honda over the last few years, only for r🗹esults to end in major disappointme💝nt and therefore lead to a move away, or in Lorenzo’s case, retirement. 

Mir’s adaptation from the Suzuki to Honda has so far gone even worse than the two rꦐiders above him, after Le Mans saw him crash out of his fourth consecutive race.

Teammate Marc Marquez has been impressive throughout both race weekends🌳 he’s taken part in, even if results haven’t always shown it, while Alex Rins won at COTA aboard the LCR Honda.

For Mir however, the Spaniard has been nowhere when it comes to fighting for the top positions which is why his issu🍸es, particularly with front-end feeling, led him to say this.

"It’s true that you have to🥃 be very focused on all the details, because you are like on a knife edge. 

"More than physically, it's more mentally. Mentally it destroys you𒆙, because you have to be super, super precise, always fighting with the front, trying to not over try, because then it's worse. 

"And it's a little bit difficult and completely d⭕ifferent from the bike that I experienced before.🌟"

Unless results improve, Mir cꦺould find himself in a position similar to Lorenzo and Espargaro where the Japanese manufacturer looks to move on.

Worried that he could be the next Honda rider to fail, Mir was quoted by GPOne.com as saying: "Of course 🔥I’m scared. I want to win. It’s difficult for a rider like me to see myself in the position I’m in. 

"My motiꦚvation is to win, get on the podium and stay ahead. These results are my fuel that I haven’t had in a long time. I need it. 

"I remember her🔯e, last year,💟 with the Suzuki I was racing one second faster."

Joan
Joan

Talking of pace, and in particular race pace, Mir did have some positives to take away compared to previous rounds as he appeared t𒁃o be slightly more competitive.

Able to hold his pace in the low 1m32s prior to his fall, Mir said: "I made a really good start toꦅ the race and I was able to ride comfortably in the opening laps. 

"When 🧸you are battling꧃ with the top ten and in a big group, there’s a really big slipstream effect and it becomes harder to stop the bike. 

"I sto🏅od the bike up to avoid hitting Aleix and this is ܫwhere the mistake came from and I lost the group. 

"Then I tried some different things with the bike and I unfortunately fell. But I was able to ride in low 32s, this is really important and the thing that we have to focus o🐻n. 

"We take these positives, 🍬study everything well❀ and prepare for the next race."

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