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Mir wins 1st MotoGP title
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Joan Mir won the MotoGP title for the first time with a seventh-place finish at the Valencia Grand Prix yesterday.
Pole-sitter Franco Morbidelli of Italy won the race for this third victory of the season, but it was not enough to keep Mir from securing the title with one race to go. The season-finale will take place in Portugal this weekend.
The 23-year-old Spanish rider with Suzuki started from 12th place on the grid and needed nothing more than a top-three finish to clinch the title. He also could have lifted the trophy by finishing ahead of the other contenders.
The champion celebrated by pulling wheelies and screeching his smoking tires in front of the paddock where his family awaited him to celebrate.
“I’ve been fighting for this all my life, I can neither laugh nor cry but I’m flooded with emotions,” said Mir.
This was the first MotoGP title won by a Suzuki rider since 2000.
Mir won his first MotoGP race last weekend at the same Ricardo Tormo circuit near Valencia and earned seven podium finishes in 13 races.
With one race to go, Mir has an unassailable 29-point lead over Petronas Yamaha’s Morbidelli, who withstood a spirited challenge from Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller of Australia to seal his third victory of the season.
Spaniard Pol Espargaro of KTM completed the podium.
Mir entered yesterday’s race with a 37-point advantage over both Suzuki teammate Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha. Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales and Andrea Dovizioso also had a mathematical chance to win the title.
This year’s title race was wide open after six-time champion Marc Marquez was sidelined because of an injury. There have been nine different winners this season, with five first-time winners.
The MotoGP season was shortened and had its calendar severely altered because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mir moved up a place at the start yesterday and gradually moved to the front. France’s Quartararo, a three-time winner this year who started 11th on the grid, went wide early and dropped to the back of the pack, then crashed out of the race with less than 20 laps to go.
Johann Zarco, who started fourth on the grid, crashed early in the race.
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