Joan Mir

Joan Mir was born in Parma de Mallorca on the first of September 1997. His passion for motorcycle was not immediate as it is for many of the other World Championship riders – instead, his early interests included skateboard as a result of his father’s shop in Mallorca. A meteoric rise through the ranks saw him take the Moto3 World Championship in 2017 and the MotoGP World Championship in 2020, putting the #36 in an elite group of riders with multiple World Championships. For 2023, he will ride alongside Marc Marquez in the Repsol Honda Team.

The young Mallorcan immediately showed potential in the 2013 and 2014 editions of the Red Bull Rookies Cup, battling Jorge Martin for the title in his second year. 2015 saw the #36 launch an assault on the FIM CEV Championship after a somewhat turbulent start to the year, ultimately finishing the year in fourth. But the real highlight of 2015 came when Mir was called up to make his Moto3 World Championship debut at Phillip Island, replacing the injured Hiroki Ono. Immediately making his mark on the world stage, Mir rocketed up to fourth from 15th on the grid before ultimately crashing out. But his future was sealed.

For 2016, Joan Mir joined the Moto3 World Championship full time and took his first win that year in Austria, also his debut podium in the class. Three podiums and fifth in the lightweight class gave Mir the Rookie of the Year honours. The following season he returned to Honda machinery aboard the Honda NSF250RW and dominated the Moto3 class with ten wins and 13 podiums. An untouchable season led to another promotion.

The meteoric rise of Joan Mir continued as he joined the Marc VDS team in Moto2 and was immediately able to run at the front with the most experienced riders in the class. A first podium came in France with the second a few races later in Italy as he battled to sixth in the standings. These efforts were enough to immediately be offered a seat with the factory Suzuki effort in MotoGP.

A run of top-ten finishes on his MotoGP debut was disrupted by a mid-season injury at the Brno test, causing him to miss two races and spend the rest of the 2019 season rebuilding his confidence. A return to the sharp end of races in the closing races proved that this was just a blip and Mir’s speed was still there.

2020 would be an unique and challenging year for the world, but Joan Mir kept a laser focus to remain consistent throughout the trials and tribulations of the year. Consistency was key for Mir aboard the Suzuki MotoGP machine as a number of title challengers came and went, winning and falling the next week while the #36 kept the top five finishes and podiums coming in. It all came down to the penultimate round of the year in Valencia, Mir claiming his first MotoGP win at the same circuit just a week before and taking the 2020 MotoGP crown – a Premier Class World Champion in just his second season in the class.

With a target on his back, the reigning World Champion went into 2021 with a point to prove. Taking six podiums over the course of the year kept him in the title hunt until the final races, but he would ultimately have to settle for third position overall in the standings. The performance proved the pedigree of Mir without question.

2022 proved to be another difficult season for Mir as Suzuki announced their exist from the sport at the sixth round of the year and a heavy fall in Austria left Mir sidelined for four races. Three fourth place finishes amongst a number of DNFs hid the true potential of Mir that season, but lit a fire inside him.

With 2023 acting as a year of learning with the Repsol Honda Team, the Mallorcan hopes to build on the previous season and make progress in 2024.