Team Suzuki Press Office – June 18.
Joan Mir: 12th – 1’20.732 (+ 0.801)
Alex Rins: NO TIME SET
Saturday at the Sachsenring was up and down for Suzuki as Alex Rins had to withdraw from the remainder of the Grand Prix after FP3 due to his wrist injury, and Joan Mir fought against demanding conditions to get himself into final qualifying.
With temperatures rising fast in the Europe-wide heatwave, FP3 saw few improvements early doors, but Mir was ready and willing to find a few extra tenths with his GSX-RR. He set a series of personal best laps in order to place himself firmly within the Top 10 and progress directly to Q2, finishing FP3 in seventh. He continued his good feeling around the German track when he finished third in FP4. A mini race simulation run also went well for the Mallorcan rider.
In Q2 temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius on the physical and tight track, and Mir went ahead with a two-stop strategy. However, he struggled to drop his lap times further and slipped to 12th at the end of qualifying.
Joan Mir:
“Today has been a nice one, and overall I feel happy. We were able to improve the bike and I felt really good pushing in FP3 and FP4 with the hot conditions. I did a sort of race run and it went well, but then in Q2 I couldn’t match the good pace I had previously. I’m not really sure why not, but I just couldn’t manage it, we used the same settings in both exits but the time wasn’t there and neither was the feeling. Anyway, we’ll analysis the data and we’ll keep pushing for a good result tomorrow.”
Livio Suppo – Team Manager:
“Of course it’s a shame that Alex couldn’t continue riding this weekend, we’re sorry for him but we support the decision, and we want to see him recover as soon as possible. Joan has had a strong weekend so far and I’m very pleased with his performance, his race pace in FP4 was really good. Unfortunately, during qualifying he suffered some vibration issues that we want to investigate, which means his start position isn’t the best. On the other hand, his race pace is great and I’m confident he can do well tomorrow.”
GRAND PRIX OF GERMANY QUALIFYING CLASSIFICATION:
1 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 1’19.931
2 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP 1’20.007 0.076 0.076
3 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing 1’20.030 0.099 0.023
4 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 1’20.120 0.189 0.090
5 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 1’20.128 0.197 0.008
6 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 1’20.150 0.219 0.022
7 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’20.168 0.237 0.018
8 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 1’20.219 0.288 0.051
9 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 1’20.468 0.537 0.249
10 Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda IDEMITSU 1’20.562 0.631 0.094
11 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 1’20.593 0.662 0.031
12 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1’20.732 0.801 0.139
13 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team Q1
14 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Q1
15 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Q1
16 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL Q1
17 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP Q1
18 Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team Q1
19 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
20 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Q1
21 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
22 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Q1
23 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Q1
