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Despite a ‘clever ride’: 7th place for Joan Mir is no cause for pride

Honda rider Joan Mir drove the RC213V from twelfth place up to seventh in the MotoGP sprint race at Silverstone. However, the Spaniard’s result had already been compromised before the race even began.

MotoGP

09.08.2026 - 09:04

This article is an automatically generated English version. The Original Article was published in German.

Das gab es lange nicht: Joan Mir zog an Marc Marquez vorbei
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Joan Mir’s assessment of his sprint race was sobering: “At least we got the most out of it. But 7th place is not a result we should be proud of.” The Honda rider started from 12th on the grid – so making up five places by the halfway point was a credit to him. The first lap was half the battle, as the Spaniard had already gained three places by then.

However, the 28-year-old subsequently lost time to Pedro Acosta and Alex Márquez, who were riding ahead of him, and decided to pace himself carefully – partly for lack of alternatives: “I didn’t push as hard at the start. But even if I’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to keep up with them. I had vibrations that affected how my bike handled in the corners, and normally you wear out your tyres when you try to compensate for that. But I didn’t do that; instead, I rode in a more controlled manner.”

This cautious approach paid off for the Mallorcan: “As a result, I still had enough in the tank in the second half to attack Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta, who were struggling more. That’s how I fought my way to seventh place. I think I rode cleverly, because that was the best possible result for us.”

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A result, however, that was also marred by his twelfth place on the grid. According to Mir himself, he could well have been further up the grid, albeit ‘just two or three places higher’. A misunderstanding caused by an aerodynamic part that had fallen off Marco Bezzecchi’s Aprilia confused the rider with start number 36: “I was behind Marc Marquez on my final lap when he eased off the throttle during his fastest lap. I saw a yellow panel being displayed as a warning about the part, but realised too late that it wasn’t a yellow flag. I drew the wrong conclusion from the situation.”

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A misunderstanding that the riders would need to address in the Safety Commission, and one that had a negative impact on Mir’s qualifying result. “At least it was just an aero part and not a chassis component,” noted Mir, who has signed for Gresini-Ducati for 2027, whilst in England.

The three points earned from his seventh place in the sprint race do not affect Joan Mir’s eighteenth position in the World Championship standings. Ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix, the Honda rider trails his team-mate Johann Zarco by five points.

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