MADRID, 17 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish MotoGP rider Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) regretted his nineteenth place in the ‘Sprint Race’ of the Austrian Grand Prix, because his pace was “much better” than what he showed at the Red Bull Ring, while his teammate, the Italian Luca Marini revealed that he expected “more” on a Saturday in which the heat made brake management “complicated”.
“I had a good start to the race and I was able to gain a lot of positions. However, I had a collision with Raúl Fernández which made me lose about four places. Then, with the ‘long lap’ penalty, I fell far behind and we did what we could,” said the Balearic driver in statements shared by Repsol.
For the 2020 top-class champion, his nineteenth place in the sprint race “is a shame” because the pace of the Honda “was much better” than they had been able to “demonstrate”. “Tomorrow will be another tough race for everyone on the grid in these conditions,” predicted Mir for this Sunday’s ‘long’ race at the Red Bull Ring.
For his part, Italian Luca Marini admitted that they expected “more from the sprint race”, although he was penalised by a bad start and the heat did not help, making it “complicated” to manage the carbon brakes. “The positive thing is that we have learned a few more things for Sunday and also for future development,” he applauded.
“Once we got into the race we were able to set an acceptable pace, considering we were trying to catch up, but we fell way behind because of the first lap,” said the Italian driver about his performance this Saturday in Austria.