{"id":607136,"date":"2026-04-14T22:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607136\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T22:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T22:29:13","slug":"joan-mir-explains-costly-race-crashes-title-leader-bezzecchi-tops-2026-motogp-falls-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/607136\/","title":{"rendered":"Joan Mir explains costly race crashes, title leader Bezzecchi tops 2026 MotoGP falls list"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joan Mir\u2019s uncompromising approach to racing, combined with the limitations of his Honda, has contributed to him finishing just twice in the opening six races of the MotoGP season.<\/p>\n<p>Mir\u2019s first non-score was due to a severe tyre wear issue at Buriram, but he\u2019s gone on to fall in the last four races &#8211; Sprints and GPs &#8211; remounting to cross the line 15th in the COTA Sprint.<\/p>\n<p>However, those are also his only mistakes of the season so far, with no crashes in practice, qualifying or warm-ups.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, while Mir\u2019s meagre three championship points make for difficult reading, his total of four crashes is lower than title leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/995158\/marco-bezzecchi\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/911973\/joan-mir\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mir<\/a>&#8216;s four crashes also puts him level with seven other riders &#8211; including top KTM rider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1040772\/pedro-acosta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pedro Acosta<\/a>, leading Ducati rider <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/995149\/fabio-di-giannantonio\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fabio di Giannantonio<\/a> and Aprilia\u2019s title runner-up<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/973236\/jorge-martin\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Jorge Martin<\/a> (see full list below).<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to start a race knowing I have a chance,\u201d explained Mir, who lined up fifth on the grid at COTA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor this reason, the most difficult years for me mentally were in \u201923 and \u201924. I don\u2019t want to go through that again\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI enjoy when I have the option to fight for something big and that is costing me a lot of crashes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut in COTA I had to do it. I have zero regrets. I think the team is supporting me in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gng_1302908_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Joan Mir chasing Pedro Acosta for third, 2026 US MotoGP Sprint.\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.54\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Joan Mir chasing Pedro Acosta for third, 2026 US MotoGP Sprint.<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Mir\u2019s recent Sprint crash at COTA was particularly cruel.<\/p>\n<p>The Spaniard fell on the final lap while pushing to close a 0.3s gap to Acosta and secure what would have been Honda\u2019s first podium of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, Mir crashed, while Acosta was later penalised for tyre pressure, meaning Mir would have inherited third even without passing the KTM rider.<\/p>\n<p>The grand prix brought a much earlier exit, from sixth place on lap 6, again while leading the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/repsol-honda-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Honda <\/a>challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Mir believes the risk issue is rooted in how the RCV behaves, especially under braking in race conditions.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to improve the rear to ride in a more relaxed way with the front,\u201d explained Mir, who took a pair of Honda podiums late last season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reality is that if we don\u2019t do that, then it will be difficult to fight with the others if I don\u2019t take these risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cWhen I am alone, I can ride very fast and quite safely. But behind others with this aero, you have to take risks to stop in the same way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I have to recover [time] then I have to take double risk, and that increases our chances of being on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is what is happening, and why I am crashing more in the races. That\u2019s the explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gng_1302084_hires.jpg\"   type=\"image\/jpeg\" alt=\"Marco Bezzecchi's Aprilia, 2026 US MotoGP Sprint.\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.56\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Marco Bezzecchi&#8217;s Aprilia, 2026 US MotoGP Sprint.<\/p>\n<p> \u00a9\u00a0Gold and Goose<\/p>\n<p>  2026 MotoGP falls list after three rounds:<\/p>\n<p>Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia): 6 falls<\/p>\n<p>Pedro Acosta (KTM): 4 falls<br \/>Fabio di Giannantonio (Ducati): 4<br \/>Alex Marquez (Ducati): 4<br \/>Jorge Martin (Aprilia): 4<br \/>Jack Miller (Yamaha): 4<br \/>Joan Mir (Honda): 4<br \/>Franco Morbidelli (Ducati): 4<br \/>Ai Ogura (Aprilia): 4<\/p>\n<p>Brad Binder (KTM): 3 falls<br \/>Marc Marquez (Ducati): 3<br \/>Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha): 3<\/p>\n<p>Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati): 2 falls<br \/>Luca Marini (Honda): 2<br \/>Diogo Moreira (Ducati): 2<br \/>Johann Zarco (Honda): 2<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha): 1 fall<br \/>Alex Rins (Yamaha): 1<br \/>Maverick Vinales (KTM): 1*<\/p>\n<p>Raul Fernandez (Aprilia): 0 falls<br \/>Fermin Aldeguer (Ducati): 0*<\/p>\n<p>* Did not compete in all events.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan Mir\u2019s uncompromising approach to racing, combined with the limitations of his Honda, has contributed to him finishing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,914,245659,9398,10732,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-607136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-honda","11":"tag-honda-hrc-motogp","12":"tag-joan-mir","13":"tag-marco-bezzecchi","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-motor-sports","16":"tag-motosport","17":"tag-motosports","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}