Team Suzuki Ecstar endured another tough race day when Alex Rins was ruled out of starting the German GP due to injury and Joan Mir crashed out early from the gruelling 30 lap race.
A bumper crowd were ready to cheer on the riders at Sachsenring circuit amidst a scorching heatwave which saw air temperatures of 35 degrees Celsius and track temperatures of 50 degrees. The long race on such a physically-demanding track was always going to be a tough ask, but Mir felt prepared and ready following a strong display of race pace on Saturday.
Starting from 12th on the grid, Mir got a clean start but was mired down in the pack with a formidable group around him. Nevertheless, he was hoping to keep his head down and work his way up the order, but his ambitions were halted at the start of Lap 4 when he went down at the infamous Turn 1. The GSX-RR rider is uninjured and ready to turn his attention to Assen next weekend.
Joan Mir:
“We decided to go out with the hard rear tyre instead of the medium, and it meant that in the early laps I didn’t really have the feeling. I was expecting that feeling to come as more laps passed and the tyre got up to temperature, but after a couple laps I still didn’t feel good. I had a close call with another rider and a small touch, and then I went wide and lost the front. It’s a shame, but we won’t let this disappointment ruin our optimism or our working spirit, I feel better and better with the bike and I will continue pushing for Assen.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“There’s not a lot to say; a bad day is a bad day. Our expectations for this race were very different, and unfortunately it was over before it really started. But thinking from a positive point of view, we will be able to get back on track in just a few days at a circuit that both our riders like and that suits our bike. We mustn’t let our heads drop, we’ll keep working and pushing forward.”
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:
“We had to race with only one rider this weekend because of Alex’s injury, and then Joan crashed early in the race. It was a shame, not only because he had the potential to show good race pace and he wasn’t able to, but also because we couldn’t collect much information or data to improve our bike performance either. But we won’t give up, we’ll keep our focus on next weekend where hopefully we’ll have both riders on track and get some strong results.”
GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY RACE RESULTS:
1 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 41’12.816
2 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 41’17.755 4.939
3 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 41’21.188 8.372
4 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 41’21.929 9.113
5 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 41’24.495 11.679
6 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 41’25.980 13.164
7 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 41’28.221 15.405
8 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 41’28.667 15.851
9 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 41’32.556 19.740
10 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 41’34.427 21.611
11 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 41’35.991 23.175
12 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 41’39.364 26.548
13 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 41’41.830 29.014
14 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team 41’43.496 30.680
15 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 41’43.628 30.812
16 Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team 42’04.856 52.040