Team Suzuki Press Office – September 12.
GRAN PREMIO TISSOT DE ARAGÓN
Joan Mir: 3rd
Alex Rins: 12th
A misty morning at Motorland Aragón quickly cleared to make way for a scorching Sunday and a thrilling race day. Joan Mir and Alex Rins both opted for the hard-soft tyre combination ahead of the 23 lap race and despite starting seventh and 20th on the grid respectively, both were ready to do battle.
By the end of the first lap, Mir had made it up to fifth and Rins up to 15th, and by the fourth lap of the race Alex had climbed to 12th. The race began to spread out a little as each rider slotted into their rhythm and everybody was keen to preserve their tyres. Mallorca’s Mir maintained his fifth place spot, keeping an eye on the gap behind him whilst also keeping the leading four riders in his sights. On the 12th lap of the race, Mir climbed two places in quick succession, placing himself in a podium position.
Rins began to struggle with front end feeling, although he reported it was different to what he had experienced earlier in the weekend. But the Spaniard was determined not to give up at this track that he likes so much, continued to battle on and retook 12th from Pol Espargaró.
Mir, aware of the widening gap in front of him to the duelling duo, decided to play a wise game. And when Aleix Espargaró closed in on him in the final laps he responded to the pressure and kept the Aprilia rider at bay to take his fifth podium of the season.
With these results, Mir keeps the title leaders within reach and Team Suzuki Ecstar move up to third in the Teams’ standings and Manufacturers’ standings.
Joan Mir:
“I’m a bit disappointed, despite the podium, because I wasn’t able to be as fast as I wanted. But the important thing was that I managed to be really consistent and feel comfortable on the bike. The team and I put in a lot of effort and that resulted in a third place finish, which was good, but I was hoping to have winning pace. The track was very hot and all weekend it was hard to get optimal grip and feeling, but I kept fighting and this podium brings us positivity and some nice points. We’ll keep pushing to improve for the remaining rounds. I’m not thinking of the title, I just want to get the best possible result at every race.”
Alex Rins:
“It was a very, very difficult race. In the first part I overtook a lot of riders, but then when I went onto the long straight I was fast but I was also keen to maintain the condition of the tyre. I got up to 12th and then I started to feel quite strange with not much grip or feeling in general. I wanted to do the best job possible, but in the end I couldn’t gain any more places. I don’t feel so bad because I gained a lot of places compared with my grid position and I’m ready to move on to Misano and try again.”
Shinichi Sahara – Project Leader and Team Director:
“First of all I’d like to say ‘great job’ to Joan and his crew! During the weekend he was steady and consistent as usual and he made a good start from his grid position. He maintained everything very well, and he stayed very concentrated. I’m really happy for him to be back on the podium. We still need to find something more to fight for the title, but I believe we can do that. Alex achieved great lap times in Warm-Up this morning with a used tyre, but he lacked a bit of feeling with the bike during the race, despite this he recovered well. We’re already looking forward to Misano and hoping to see both our riders at the front.”
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:
“We had high expectations here because last year we had fantastic results, but this year we are struggling a bit more. Despite this situation, Joan did a very good job to take a podium and I’m very happy. Alex improved in the race compared with his qualifying position, but he couldn’t achieve what he wanted today. We need to study the data again and try to find the solutions ahead of Misano next weekend.”
GRAN PREMIO TISSOT DE ARAGÓN – Race Classification:
1. F. BAGNAIA – Ducati Lenovo Team – 41:44.422
2. M. MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – +00.673
3. J. MIR – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +03.911
4. A. ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – +09.269
5. J. MILLER – Ducati Lenovo Team – +11.928
6. E. BASTIANINI – Avintia Esponsorama – +13.757
7. B. BINDER – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +14.064
8. F. QUARTARARO – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – +16.575
9. J. MARTIN – Pramac Racing – +16.615
10. T. NAKAGAMI – LCR Honda IDEMITSU – +16.904
11. I. LECUONA – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – +17.124
12. A. RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – +17.710
13. P. ESPARGARO – Repsol Honda Team – +19.680
14. M. OLIVEIRA – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – +22.703
15. D. PETRUCCI – Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing – +25.723
16. C. CRUTCHLOW – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – +26.413
17. J. ZARCO – Pramac Racing – +26.620
18. M. VIÑALES – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – +27.128
19. V. ROSSI – Petronas Yamaha SRT – +32.517
20. L. MARINI – SKY VR46 Avintia – +39.073
Not Classified:
J. DIXON – Petronas Yamaha SRT – 01:56.554 – 2 laps
MotoGP World Standings:
1 Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 214
2 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 161
3 Joan MIR Suzuki 157
4 Johann ZARCO Ducati 137
5 Jack MILLER Ducati 129
6 Brad BINDER KTM 117
7 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 96
8 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia 95
9 Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 87
10 Marc MARQUEZ Honda 79
11 Jorge MARTIN Ducati 71
12 Alex RINS Suzuki 68
13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 64
14 Pol ESPARGARO Honda 55
15 Alex MARQUEZ Honda 49
16 Enea BASTIANINI Ducati 45
17 Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 40
18 Iker LECUONA KTM 38
19 Danilo PETRUCCI KTM 37
20 Luca MARINI Ducati 28
21 Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 28
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
29 Jake DIXON Yamaha
