Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is the 2020 MotoGP™ World Champion.

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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.

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.

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)

JOAN MIR: 2020 WORLD CHAMPION’S CAREER IN NUMBERS

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.

GRAN PREMIO MOTUL DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA

MotoGP Race Classification 2020.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	156.8	41’22.478
2	20	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	156.8	+0.093
3	16	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	156.6	+3.006
4	13	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	156.5	+3.697
5	11	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	156.5	+4.127
6	10	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	156.3	+7.272
7	9	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	156.2	+8.703
8	8	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	156.2	+8.729
9	7	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	155.8	+15.512
10	6	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	155.6	+19.043
11	5	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	155.5	+19.456
12	4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	155.5	+19.717
13	3	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	155.3	+23.802
14	2	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	155.0	+27.430
15	1	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	154.9	+30.570
16		73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	154.9	+30.619
17		53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	154.1	+42.365
18		32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	153.9	+46.472
Not Classified
		30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	156.6	9 Laps
		20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	153.8	19 Laps
		5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Esponsorama Racing	Ducati	154.7	22 Laps

MotoGP World Standing 2020

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Joan MIR	Suzuki	SPA	171
2	Franco MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	ITA	142
3	Alex RINS	Suzuki	SPA	138
4	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	SPA	127
5	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	FRA	125
6	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	Ducati	ITA	125
7	Pol ESPARGARO	KTM	SPA	122
8	Jack MILLER	Ducati	AUS	112
9	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	JPN	105
10	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	POR	100
11	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	87
12	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	ITA	78
13	Johann ZARCO	Ducati	FRA	71
14	Alex MARQUEZ	Honda	SPA	67
15	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	ITA	62
16	Francesco BAGNAIA	Ducati	ITA	47
17	Aleix ESPARGARO	Aprilia	SPA	34
18	Cal CRUTCHLOW	Honda	GBR	29
19	Iker LECUONA	KTM	SPA	27
20	Stefan BRADL	Honda	GER	18
21	Bradley SMITH	Aprilia	GBR	12
22	Tito RABAT	Ducati	SPA	10
23	Michele PIRRO	Ducati	ITA	4
24	Lorenzo SAVADORI	Aprilia	ITA

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of motogp.com