Joan Mir retired from the Portuguese MotoGP Sprint on the first lap after sensing a problem at the start, costing him \u201can opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Having seemed in podium contention after Friday, Mir had a relatively underwhelming qualifying in seventh, but for the Sprint it was not as consequential as what happened at the start, as Mir encountered a technical problem immediately and retired.<\/p>\n
Speaking afterwards, Mir said that the Honda HRC <\/a>Castrol team was still diagnosing the problem, and all he could say is that it was related to the clutch.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the Sprint race, I had a problem from the start with the clutch,\u201d Joan Mir<\/a> told MotoGP.com after the MotoGP<\/a> Sprint in Portugal.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have many [information] \u2013 we have to understand what happened, to see if it was a mistake that we can avoid in the future, or whatever.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cBut I don\u2019t have more information. It was a shame because I think we had an opportunity again today.\u201d<\/p>\n Mir added that he felt it for the first time on the race start, not on the warm-up lap.<\/p>\n \u201c[I felt it] for the first time on the start, this is the strange thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that it\u2019s something that tomorrow we will solve well. But the thing is to understand well why: what I did, or what happened, or whatever.\u201d<\/p>\n Marini frustrated by lack of \u201coverall rhythm\u201d<\/p>\n