Bright and chilly Day 1 Algarve MotoGP

MGP-17-Joan Mir-1

Team Suzuki Press Office – November 5.

Joan Mir: 4th – 1’39.680 (+ 0.290)
Alex Rins: 10th – 1’40.176 (+ 0.786)

The MotoGP™ World Championship is back in Portugal for the penultimate round of the 2021 season. The series last visited the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve back in April, where the Suzuki riders both had very strong pace and Joan Mir bagged a podium finish.

Bright and chilly conditions were the order of the morning and Mir and Alex Rins were on good form from the get-go. The GSX-RR riders held positions in the Top five and improved lap by lap, despite a huge moment for Mir at Turn 13. The pair closed FP1 in fourth and fifth.

FP2 may have been the crucial session, with the pleasant Algarve afternoon offering warmer track temperatures than predicted for tomorrow morning. The session was very competitive as the first 18 riders were covered by just 1 second, but this didn’t bother Mir and Rins as they continued to dial in hot laps. Towards the end of the session, Mir became the first rider to set a lap under 1’40”, and he continued to carve time out. Rins had dropped to the cusp of the Top 10, but in the final moments he managed a quicker lap and got into an important 10th.

Joan Mir:

“It was a positive day for us; we’re working well and I felt competitive straight away so that made our work a bit easier today. Apart from the big moment in FP1, everything has been running smoothly. We focused on a few small details, including the electronics and we’re following the steps to try and build a strong weekend. So far, I’m happy.”

Alex Rins:

“This is a good track for me and our bike works well here – this morning I was fast and also this afternoon, especially with the soft rear I felt really good. In the last laps of the day I was missing something, and I couldn’t reach the target of being a bit faster. However, I still made it into the Top 10 and we know where we can improve so we will keep pushing.”

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:

“This is the second time we’ve been here this year, which means we already had some data from the first race back in April. At the moment it seems that our bikes and our settings are working quite well. In the afternoon we made some improvements, but tomorrow I think everybody will take another step forward so we need to be prepared and continue our work. Our target first of all will be to get into Q2, then we’ll hope to get good grid positions.”

GRANDE PRÉMIO BREMBO DO ALGARVE – Combined Classification after DAY1:

1. F. QUARTARARO – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:39.390
2. F. BAGNAIA – Ducati Lenovo Team – 01:39.522 – +0.132
3. J. MILLER – Ducati Lenovo Team – 01:39.611 – +0.221
4. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:39.680 – +0.290
5. P. ESPARGARO – Repsol Honda Team – 01:39.792 – +0.402
6. J. ZARCO – Pramac Racing – 01:39.889 – +0.499
7. A. MARQUEZ – LCR Honda CASTROL – 01:40.042 – +0.652
8. A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:40.069 – +0.679
9. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – 01:40.122 – +0.732
10. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 01:40.176 – +0.786
11. J. MARTIN – Pramac Racing – 01:40.179 – +0.789
12. F. MORBIDELLI – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – 01:40.225 – +0.835
13. D. PETRUCCI – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 01:40.231 – +0.841
14. M. VIÑALES – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 01:40.284 – +0.894
15. L. MARINI – SKY VR46 Avintia – 01:40.323 – +0.933
16. E. BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama – 01:40.467 – +1.077
17. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:40.498 – +1.108
18. S. BRADL – Repsol Honda Team – 01:40.700 – +1.310
19. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 01:40.935 – +1.545
20. I. LECUONA – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – 01:41.097 – +1.707
21. V. ROSSI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:41.174 – +1.784
22. A. DOVIZIOSO – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:41.214 – +1.824

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