Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is the 2020 MotoGP™ World Champion. After six podiums and a victory in the Europe GP, the Majorcan was 37 points clear coming into take two at Valencia and nothing could shake the Suzuki rider. A seventh place finish defended to the final corner assures him the crown, becoming the first Moto3™ Champion to win the premier class title and the first to do so for Suzuki in 20 years.
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M1R: EVERY SECOND OF JOAN MIR’S CHAMPIONSHIP CELEBRATIONS
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Mir’s path to glory began in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2013, where he took a podium as a rookie, before 2014 saw the Majorcan end the year second overall after a number of wins. In 2015 a full season in the FIM Moto3™ Junior World Championship awaited, where he came fourth overall but took four wins and a further three podiums as he fought for the title to the end. Late that same year, Mir also made his debut in the Moto3™ World Championship – qualifying in fifteenth and then fighting for sixth. The Majorcan crashed out, but had already made an impression.
He joined Moto3™ full time for 2016 and immediately began to impress. Points first time out, a top five in his third ever Moto3™ race and then a first victory in Austria saw Mir end the year fifth overall and as Rookie of the Year. That made Mir a firm favourite for the title the following year and he didn’t disappoint, coming out guns blazing in 2017 to take the first two victories of the season.
More wins at Le Mans and Catalunya prefaced three wins in a row in Germany, Czechia and Austria, before another in Aragon set up the Majorcan’s first shot at the crown at Motegi. It wasn’t to be as Mir failed to score for the first time all season, but at Phillip Island he bounced back in style.
Upon his return to the venue where he made his debut only two years earlier, Mir was untouchable as he took his ninth win of the year and wrapped up the crown, becoming the 2017 Moto3™ World Champion.
Mir then moved to Moto2™ with the EG 0,0 Marc VDS team. As a rookie in the intermediate class, the Spaniard continued to impress as he took four podiums and ended the season in sixth. His trajectory and success had already called the attention of Suzuki, and the Hamamatsu factory offered him a seat in MotoGP™ for the following year. Mir accepted and joined the premier class for 2019.
First time out in Qatar, the number 36 impressed on his debut and took eighth before some tougher races followed. By Mugello he was back in the points in 12th, and at Catalunya he took sixth to begin a run of solid top eight finishes. That ended at Brno with a crash before the Majorcan also crashed at the post-race test in the Czech Republic, subsequently side-lining him from the Austrian and British Grands Prix.
Upon his return at Misano, Mir started scoring again and ended the year without a further DNF, taking a best result in his rookie year of fifth in Phillip Island and setting him up for a sophomore year at the front.
In 2020 pre-season testing, Mir – and Suzuki – had many talking as the Hamamatsu factory put in some impressive performance. But fast forward a few months to Jerez as competition re-started and the duo had a tough first outing as Mir crashed out in the Spanish GP. Next time out the Majorcan took fifth to get some points on the board, but Brno saw another DNF dent his title hopes.
From Austria onwards, however, everything came together. A first MotoGP™ podium in second place prefaced an impressive performance in the Stryian GP before the race was Red-Flagged with Mir in the lead. He ultimately took fourth. The Majorcan bounced back with three podiums in a row in the San Marino, Emilia Romagna and Catalan GPs, gaining traction in the Championship, before another tough race in Le Mans briefly halted his momentum as Mir took 11th, lacking experience of the conditions. With key rivals Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) also fighting in the fringes of the top ten though, all was far from lost.
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P7 IN VALENCIA SEES MIR BECOME 2020 WORLD CHAMPION
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MIR: INTRODUCING YOUR 2020 MotoGP™ WORLD CHAMPION
MotorLand was up next and Mir was immediately back on the podium, taking two third places. With the first he also took the Championship lead, and arrived into the Gran Premio de Europa as now the clear favourite for the crown – but there was something missing.
That something was a first MotoGP™ win which, despite getting close, the Majorcan had not yet taken. That changed as the premier class headed out to race in Valencia for the first time in 2020 as Mir put in a sublime charge to the flag; cool, calm and collected to take a valuable 25 points and a MotoGP™ winner’s trophy – putting him 37 points clear heading into the penultimate race weekend of the season.
It was a tough Saturday as he qualified 12th but as the lights went out for his first match point, the Majorcan soon got to work to move into the top ten and then the top eight, needing a handful of points as his closest challengers ended up off the podium. Mir kept it calm and collected to assure himself the crown, taking seventh place and crowning himself the 2020 MotoGP™ World Champion.
BIOGRAPHY:
DOB: 1 September 1997
Place of birth: Palma de Mallorca, Spain
First Grand Prix: Australia 2015, Moto3™
First pole position: Austria 2016, Moto3™
First podium: Austria 2016, Moto3™
First win: Austria 2016, Moto3™
Grands Prix: 85 (30 in MotoGP™)
Wins: 12 (1 in MotoGP™)
Podiums: 27 (7 in MotoGP™)
Pole positions: 2 (0 in MotoGP™)
Fastest laps: 6 (0 in MotoGP™)
World Championships: Moto3™ (2017), MotoGP™ (2020)
World Championship career:
2015: Moto3™ – Honda – 1 race – 0 points
2016: Moto3™ – KTM – 18 races, 144 points – 5th
2017: Moto3™ – Honda – 18 races – 341 points – WORLD CHAMPION
2018: Moto2™ – Kalex – 18 races – 155 points – 6th
2019: MotoGP™ – Suzuki – 17 races – 92 points – 12th
2020: MotoGP™ – Suzuki – 13 races – 171 points – WORLD CHAMPION