Team Suzuki Ecstar were raring to go as the 2021 MotoGP™ World Championship got underway again following the five-week summer break. The Styrian Grand Prix was held under cloudy skies, with the threat of raining lurking around the Austrian track, although this failed to dampen the spirits of the sizeable crowd.

Joan Mir and Alex Rins gave Suzuki’s new ride height adjuster its debut in the 28 lap race, and both got off to great starts on their GSX-RRs. Mir initially slotted into second place before going wide on the second lap and falling to fifth, he quickly regained his composure and got back into fourth with a determined move. Meanwhile Rins was into eighth and looking keen to make moves before a horror crash involving Dani Pedrosa and Lorenzo Savadori brought out the red flag. The field returned to the pits while a huge clean-up operation got underway on track.

The race was restarted after a long delay but Suzuki’s riders remained focused, and they once again started well; Mir taking third and Rins eighth on the first lap. Once Mir had moved into second he proved his pace and began to hunt victory with several fastest laps of the race. Rins dropped back a few places after his strong start, but he didn’t give up and continued to fight to bring home the best position possible. He battled through brake issues and took seventh at the finish line.

Back at the front, Mir found himself over a second behind race leader, Jorge Martin, after running wide at Turn 3. He sensibly decided to settle into a consistent rhythm to secure a podium instead of risking a crash, he managed this well and took a great second place.

The solid finishes of both riders brings them up one place each in the standings – Mir now third and Rins 13th. The squad also moves up to fourth in the Teams’ Championship.

Joan Mir:

“It was a tough race, it wasn’t easy trying to follow Jorge and towards the end of the race I made a mistake when trying to catch him and I went wide. Jorge was impressive today and very consistent with his lap times, so I want to congratulate him. In the end I’m satisfied and I feel very proud of the team and the factory who have made a great job over the summer. I’m happy to know that the new device is working, we have more acceleration and it puts us on a more level playing field – this gives me hope for the next races. Starting the second part of the season with a podium is a nice feeling and I feel confident for next weekend.”

Alex Rins:

“Today was a mixture of good and bad for me, I struggled a lot with the front brake and I didn’t feel comfortable on the hard braking zones. Lap by lap I tried to adapt to this and manage it, and I was able to gain some places. In the end I finished seventh, but for sure the bike was capable of finishing closer to the front so we need to adjust it and resolve the issue for next weekend. I’m pleased that we can race again in just a few days at this same track because it gives me another chance to improve and bring a better result. The ride height device felt good, it gave me a step forward in acceleration and I’m happy to keep working with it from Friday.”

Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader and Team Director:

“This weekend in Styria has been special for us as a team because we have been waiting a long time to try our new ride height device and finally we could use it for the first time in a race. Despite being a new system, it’s already working quite well and it seemed to help our riders with acceleration today, this also helped Joan to reach the podium. I cannot thank the engineers in Japan enough, they have done such an amazing job. I’d also like to congratulate Joan, who was very close to a win today. Alex had very consistent lap times today and I believe that next week he can finish even higher. Overall, we’re feeling very satisfied.”

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:

“Today was a good day and Joan did a very good job. We missed a little something to get the win, but second place and the podium is still a really nice result. I have to thank the engineers who managed to prepare the new device in such a short time and to such a high standard. Alex had more potential than seventh place today, so it’s a bit of a pity for him, but we’re happy to have both riders collecting useful points and we hope next week at this track we can get even more.”


MICHELIN® GRAND PRIX OF STYRIA
MotoGP Race Classification 2021:

1. J. MARTIN – Pramac Racing – 38:07.879
2. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +01.548
3. F. QUARTARARO – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +09.632
4. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +12.771
5. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU +12.923
6. J. ZARCO – Pramac Racing +13.031
7. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +14.839
8. M. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team +17.953
9. A. MARQUEZ – LCR Honda CASTROL +19.059
10. D. PEDROSA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +19.389
11. F. BAGNAIA – Ducati Lenovo Team +18.667
12. E. BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama +25.267
13. V. ROSSI – Petronas Yamaha SRT +26.282
14. L. MARINI – SKY VR46 Avintia +27.492
15. I. LECUONA – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing +31.076
16. P. ESPARGARO – Repsol Honda Team +31.150
17. C. CRUTCHLOW – Petronas Yamaha SRT +40.408
18. D. PETRUCCI – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing +48.114
Not Classified
M. VIÑALES – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 39:11.028 – 27 laps
J. MILLER – Ducati Lenovo Team – 26:09.851 – 18 laps
M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 20:21.024 – 14 laps
A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 05:48.654 – 5 laps

MotoGP™ World Standings:

1 Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 172
2 Johann ZARCO Ducati 132
3 Joan MIR Suzuki 121
4 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 114
5 Jack MILLER Ducati 100
6 Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 95
7 Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 85
8 Brad BINDER KTM 73
9 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 61
10 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 58
11 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 52
12 Jorge MARTIN Ducati 48
13 Alex RINS Suzuki 42
14 Pol ESPARGARO Honda 41
15 Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 40
16 Alex MARQUEZ Honda 34
17 Enea BASTIANINI Ducati 31
18 Danilo PETRUCCI KTM 26
19 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 20
20 Luca MARINI Ducati 16
21 Iker LECUONA KTM 14
22 Stefan BRADL Honda 11
23 Dani PEDROSA KTM 6
24 Lorenzo SAVADORI Aprilia 4
25 Michele PIRRO Ducati 3
26 Tito RABAT Ducati 1
27 Cal CRUTCHLOW Yamaha
28 Garrett GERLOFF Yamaha