The Repsol Honda team rider finishes just outside the Q2 cutoff and will have to compete in Q1 on Saturday.
The first day of the Argentinean Grand Prix took place at the Termas de Río Hondo Circuit. Although practice was held under a cloudy sky, rain held off for the two MotoGP sessions.
In P1, Joan Mir adjusted to difficult track for him and the Honda RC213V. In the afternoon, in the second practice of the day, the Repsol Honda Team rider was almost made it into the provisional Q2 spots, but in the end his time of 1:38.237 out him thirteen.
On Saturday, after the third free practice, Mir will have to go through Q1 and try to qualify as one of the two fastest riders to compete in the session that will define the starting grid.
JOAN MIR – 13th 1’39.237
“It was a pretty tough day. We started with a base setting which was not the best for this track, and we spent a lot of time working on it to improve. There is clearly a lot of potential there with the bike, Taka and Rins were strong, but I am just missing the final few tenths. We made a lot of progress and finally our pace at the end, especially with used tyres, was quite close to the top five. We just need more time now to work on the fine details, it’s still just our second race so this is part of the process. Even like this we were able to make some big improvements today and we aim to continue it tomorrow.”
