Joan Mir says he received an “alarm” just half a lap into the Portuguese Grand Prix before being forced to retire, but insists the issue was not the same one that ended his sprint race on Saturday.
The factory Honda rider had looked strong throughout the Portimao weekend, qualifying seventh after showing promising long-run pace on Friday. However, technical problems struck twice — first a clutch issue in the sprint, and then another mechanical failure during Sunday’s grand prix.
“Technical issue, unfortunately, again put us out of the race,” Mir explained. “Not the same as on Saturday, but the engineers are checking everything very deeply. It’s painful because we had some potential in the race, but this is what can happen.”
Mir said he immediately knew something was wrong early in the race. “I did half a lap, and then I understood something wasn’t right. I saw an alarm, and then we had to stop. It’s a shame because I think we could do another solid race this weekend.”
The 2020 world champion added that while the repeated technical issues are frustrating, he believes Honda is working hard to find answers. “We are not really used to having technical issues, so it means that something strange happened. Hopefully, we understand why and this doesn’t happen again.”
After Mir’s retirement, Honda’s best result of the weekend came from LCR rider Johann Zarco, who finished ninth after fading in the latter stages of the 25-lap race.
