Joan Mir wins MotoGP world title for Suzuki at Valencia

A the battle for the race win between Petronas Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller raged all the way to the finish line, with Morbidelli taking his third win of the season by a bike’s length from Miller with KTM’s Pol Espargaro completing the rostrum.

Morbidelli said: “I tried everything to win. It turned out a very clean and sporting fight. We passed each other a few times on the last lap and finally I was able to win.”

It was a fantastic finish to the 27-lapper but all eyes were on the champion-elect and he didn’t disappoint controlling his own race at his pace.

Starting from 12th Mir stayed out of trouble and brought the Ecstar Suzuki home a safe seventh.

It was 20 years since Suzuki last won the premier title with Kenny Roberts Jr claiming the 500 GP crown and it was fitting that Mir would take the 2020 title in Suzuki’s 100th anniversary year.

The young Majorcan joins an illustrious list of Suzuki premier class world champions that began with Barry Sheene in 1976 and 1977, followed by Marco Lucchinelli 1981, Franco Unchini 1982, Kevin Schwantz 1993 and Kenny Roberts 2000.

Mir’s team-mate Alex Rins finished fourth which was enough to give Ecstar Suzuki the Team Championship for the first time.

“I will probably need a shower to understand the situation!” said Mir.

“It’s something I’ve been fighting all my life, since I was ten years old. At the moment I can not laugh I cannot cry. It’s a mix of emotion but I am really happy. When you follow one dream all your life then finally you achieve it’s hard to find the words.

“I want to thank first my family, and then Suzuki and the opportunity they gave me in 2018, and now in 2020 two years later I’m the World Champion.

2I didn’t expect it honestly, I expected it further in the future. But we’ve got the title and now it’s ours, so I’m happy.

Mir admitted that Valencia was probably the most difficult race of the season.

“Today was the day that I struggled more than any other during the season. I don’t know what was happening because I was loosing the front all the time but we are here and the most important thing is to enjoy the season that we did.” British Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes kept his Moto2 championship hopes alive with a heroic ride to 14th place and two valuable points that leaves him 14 points behind championship leader Enea Bastianini who finished sixth behind race winner Jorge Martin.

Lowes suffered a bad right hand injury after a huge crash during Saturday’s qualifying and was lucky to race at all.

“I have to say thank you to the Clinica and the team because honestly I’m struggling a lot with my hand,” said Lowes.

“It was the first time this weekend that there was a lot of wind and it was really difficult but I am really happy to take these two points and keep something alive for next weekend at Portimao.”

Scotland’s John McPhee finished 11th in the Moto3 race behind race winner Tony Arbolino.

Championship leader Albert Arenas who finished fourth heads to this weekend’s title-decider at Portimao with an eight-point advantage over his nearest rival Ai Ogura.