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september 17, 2020 - Suzuki Racing

Joan Mir Misano blog

Team Suzuki Press Office – September 16.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s #joanmir reflects on the San Marino GP at #misano, and his spectacular last lap pass on Valentino Rossi, to take third position on the podium.

“It was a really great race on Sunday and I’m so happy with what I was able to achieve. The truth is that I was aiming for a podium but I had a steady start, and big moment a few laps in complicated things a bit. From then I just focused on getting into a good rhythm, and with 10 laps to go I suddenly realised ‘I can really go for the podium.’

“I needed to ride really well, without making any mistakes and I had to disengage my brain a bit - it was better not to think about the fact that the podium was so close! First I passed my team-mate, Alex, and then I had to think about tackling Rossi.

“In the end it all comes down to instinct; your #racing instinct takes over. When I’m #racing my rivals are sort of ‘nameless’ and that’s no disrespect to them, but when I’m in the zone and focused on the moment, I prefer not to have their names in my head. I don’t think ‘I need to pass this person, I need to pass that person’ I just try to focus on reaching my target and not who my rivals on track actually are, otherwise being here in #misano the thought would be ‘I’d better sit down because if anything happens with Valentino Rossi then it’s a big deal’ but you can’t afford these kind of thoughts when you are a racer.
“My thought process was simply that I knew I was faster than him in the first two sectors of the track, and that’s a benefit when it comes to doing battle with someone like Rossi on a track that he knows so well!

“In Turn 10 I knew I had to take advantage of the pace I had there, so I tried to prepare a pass - taking any chances that he would give me, and he did. He opened the line just a little bit, enough for me to go for it, so I released the brakes a bit and went under him. But even as I was doing it I was saying in my head: ‘Please don’t close the line!’ because we could have both ended up on the floor! Then I knew I had to pick the bike up fast and keep it stable into the last sector, and my efforts paid off because in my last lap I did my personal best time of sector 4, even faster that the qualifying lap.

“When I got to Bagnaia in the last two corners I realised that he was slowing down, but it was already too late to attempt anything. If I had known that, if I had realised it a little earlier, for sure I would have prepared an overtake, but at that point it was just too risky. That last lap was an exciting ride! It was such a thrill!

See you all next weekend.”

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