The seventh round of the MotoGP™ World Championship saw a battle of tyre choice, high temperatures and high attrition. Suzuki’s sole representative for the weekend, Joan Mir, got an impressive start from his 10th place grid spot, going eighth, before very quickly carving through to fourth on the first lap. On the following lap he had made his way into a strong third, which he defended very well against attacks from his rivals. He then briefly moved in a super second place, but on Lap 7 he found himself back in third.

As the race wore on, tyre choice became the dividing factor between the field and Mir began to struggle with his medium-medium compounds, especially on the rear of the bike. Despite this, he stayed focused under pressure from the Ducati pairing of Zarco and Miller behind him, holding them off until Lap 16. After that he switched his attention to bringing home the best possible finish; in the closing laps he saw off a chasing Maverick Viñales to achieve a very useful fifth place finish. With this result he also maintains fifth in the Championship standings.

Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader and Team Director:

“In spite of only getting 10th on the grid yesterday, as usual Joan made a good start and recovered positions very quickly to get up to the front. Due to the tyre choice and maybe a few other factors, Joan couldn’t keep hold of a podium position, but 5th is still a nice result and it’s very important for the championship, so we’re feeling pleased. There are still a lot of races left this season, it’s a very long championship, so we will work to improve and continue getting strong results. I’ve realised this weekend how important it is to have two riders in the box, for comparisons and for judging the situation, but hopefully Alex will come back for the next race. Anyway, overall, this Top 5 result from Joan has been important for us.”

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:

“Today we couldn’t replicate last year’s race where we managed a double podium, but last year we had the advantage of better tyre longevity. This time around we couldn’t manage the same durability of the tyres, and this is a pity and a shame for Joan. However, Joan did a very good job to hold onto a Top 5 finish in this difficult race. We will continue pushing and developing, we also have a test here tomorrow which could be useful. So now we’ll be turning our focus towards the next races and trying to build on our championship points. Hopefully at the next round in Sachsenring Alex will be able to rejoin the team and begin riding again.”

Joan Mir:

“We didn’t make the right decision with the tyres today, I switched to the medium-medium on the grid and then I had to battle against the rear spinning and it was a struggle, especially in the last part of the race. It’s a shame because I felt I had podium pace, but in the end I still achieved 5th place which isn’t bad. I tried my best to manage the situation and stay on the bike. The first four riders in the race had the hard rear tyre and it seems that was the better choice, but we will learn from this mistake – both me as a rider and the team too. Tomorrow we will try a few things and let’s see if there’s something that can help us in the future.”

GRAN PREMI MONSTER ENERGY DE CATALUNYA – MotoGP™ Race Classification:

1. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 40:21.749
2. J. ZARCO – Pramac Racing – +00.175
3. J. MILLER – Ducati Lenovo Team – +01.990
4. F. QUARTARARO – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – +01.815
5. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +05.325
6. M. VIÑALES – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – +06.281
7. F. BAGNAIA – Ducati Lenovo Team – +08.175
8. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +08.378
9. F. MORBIDELLI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – +15.652
10. E. BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama – +19.297
11. A. MARQUEZ – LCR Honda CASTROL – +21.650
12. L. MARINI – SKY VR46 Avintia – +22.533
13. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – +27.833
14. J. MARTIN – Pramac Racing – +29.075
15. L. SAVADORI – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – +40.291
Not Classified
I. LECUONA – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 27:01.887 – 17 laps
V. ROSSI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 25:24.511 – 16 laps
A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 16:52.680 – 11 laps
M. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 11:51.134 – 8 laps
D. PETRUCCI – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 08:33.342 – 6 laps
P. ESPARGARO – Repsol Honda Team – 06:49.922 – 5 laps

MotoGP™ World Standings:

1 Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 118
2 Johann ZARCO Ducati 101
3 Jack MILLER Ducati 90
4 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 88
5 Joan MIR Suzuki 76
6 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 74
7 Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 54
8 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 44
9 Brad BINDER KTM 43
10 Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 40
11 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 31
12 Pol ESPARGARO Honda 29
13 Enea BASTIANINI Ducati 26
14 Alex MARQUEZ Honda 25
15 Alex RINS Suzuki 23
16 Danilo PETRUCCI KTM 23
17 Jorge MARTIN Ducati 19
18 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 16
19 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 15
20 Iker LECUONA KTM 13
21 Luca MARINI Ducati 13
22 Stefan BRADL Honda 11
23 Lorenzo SAVADORI Aprilia 4
24 Michele PIRRO Ducati 3
25 Tito RABAT Ducati 1