Transfer market behind the scenes, Joan Mir: "Offers from Ducati and Honda"

Joan Mir is about to close the rough chapter with Honda in MotoGP and is already thinking about his next challenge. The Majorcan rider will race with Gresini in 2027, but before looking ahead he wanted to share some behind-the-scenes moments from his career.

The MotoGP title he won in 2020 seems almost forgotten by many fans and insiders. Weighing on his résumé are the lackluster results of recent years, especially after four seasons with HRC. "People forget very quickly and see what they want to see," Joan Mir explained in an interview with Crash.net. Winning the World Championship with a Suzuki is something far-reaching. That season was not defined by the GSX-RR’s unchallenged dominance. Consistency was crucial to finishing first in the standings. "People ask: ‘How did I win?’ The question isn’t how. I won a championship with a manufacturer that hadn’t won a championship in 20 years."

Joan Mir arrived in MotoGP after winning the Moto3 title in 2017 and racing for two seasons in Moto2. His move to the premier class came in 2019 with Suzuki, and just a year later he captured his first MotoGP world title. Before making his Top Class debut, he received very important offers "from Honda and Ducati." But "I took a risk by choosing Suzuki," continued the Spanish rider, a great admirer of Kevin Schwantz, an icon in the history of the Hamamatsu manufacturer.

Winning with Suzuki likely diminished the perceived magnitude of his achievement a bit. "Doing things differently seems to diminish your own value," Joan Mir emphasized. "If I had done the same with Yamaha or Honda, which were the winning bikes in those years, maybe it would have been worth more, right? I thought it was the opposite... We won with a very small team. We won with a team that gave everything; I’m very proud of them."

As time went by, his career took a different turn. Suzuki announced its withdrawal from MotoGP at the end of 2022 and Mir had to look for a new project. He chose Honda, finding himself on an RC213V in great difficulty after Marc Marquez’s injury. The results were disappointing, enough to spark doubts about the rider and risk leaving him out in the cold in the last transfer window.

He will soon begin a new professional adventure with Ducati. In 2027 he will move to Gresini, with a factory bike, which will allow him to seek redemption after difficult years. For Joan Mir, it could be the last call in MotoGP if success doesn’t come...

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