Mir surprises to add to crazy MotoGP season

VALENCIA • In the end, it was perhaps fitting that in an unprecedented MotoGP season that saw the competition’s start date get delayed by over four months due to the coronavirus pandemic, Joan Mir became one of its most unlikely champions.

The Spaniard won only one race all campaign, also coming in Valencia at last week’s Grand Prix of Europe, but earned his maiden crown yesterday, becoming Suzuki’s first world champion in two decades with a seventh-place finish at the Valencia Grand Prix.

Mir started the race with a 37-point lead over his closest challengers – teammate and compatriot Alex Rins and French rider Fabio Quartararo of Petronas Yamaha.

The 23-year-old managed to secure a fourth successive top-10 finish from 12th on the grid to emulate American Kenny Roberts Jr, who won the riders’ championship for Suzuki in 2000.

Rins could manage only fourth place, while Quartararo’s title challenge ended after crashing out on lap nine.

With one race to go, Mir has an unassailable 29-point lead over Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, with the Italian holding off a spirited challenge from Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller to seal his third victory of the season.

Spaniard Pol Espargaro of KTM completed the podium.

On top of a slew of cancelled races – at just 14, there are five fewer grands prix compared to last year – defending champion Marc Marquez broke his arm in the season-opener, ruling him out for the rest of the term.

His freak injury blew the championship race wide open and Mir took advantage by being the most consistent performer.

He celebrated by pulling wheelies and screeching his smoking tyres in front of the paddock where his family were in person to celebrate.

“I’ve been fighting for this all my life, I can neither laugh nor cry but I’m flooded with emotions,” he said. The season finale takes place at Portimao in Portugal on Sunday.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS