Mir: No publicity campaign will replicate what MotoGP gave Suzuki

Following May’s Spanish GP, Suzuki made the shock decision to quit MotoGP at the end of the 2022 season despite having signed up to race in the series for a further five years through to 2026.

The Japanese brand cited financial concerns and a change in the automotive industry as its reasoning, though the announcement came just one race after Alex Rins had joint leader status in the MotoGP standings.

Since then Suzuki has won twice, with Rins taking victory in Australia and last Sunday in an emotional farewell ride for the manufacturer in the Valencia Grand Prix.

Mir – who in 2020 won Suzuki’s first MotoGP title in 20 years – suggests the marque will “regret” its decision as no marketing campaign will be as fruitful as MotoGP “with a beautiful team”.

“It’s emotional to finish what is the last race for Suzuki like this,” said Mir, who was sixth in Valencia.

“I think in Japan they will regret it probably. But if they took this decision, it was for a big reason.

“I want to thank Suzuki for what they did for myself, for me; thanks to the super team around me who have always been on top.

“I don’t know about regret, but for me even if you look at the different aspects – maybe they want to invest in other things or something – the image that we are giving here in MotoGP, with a beautiful bike, with a beautiful team, I think no publicity campaign can give you what we are giving here.

“So, I don’t really understand why they took this decision. But anyway, they will have their reasons.”

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Rins admitted in September that Suzuki had yet to give him a straight answer as to why it decided to quit MotoGP.

In the early stages of the Valencia GP, Mir looked like he could be a threat for the podium, but lost too much time trying to pass champion-elect Francesco Bagnaia before a transponder issue played havoc with his electronics in the final laps.

“It has been a really good race, I enjoyed it,” Mir said.

“If you asked me what could be better, two things: just to be a bit more aggressive with Bagnaia, I lost a bit of time.

“But if I was in his position I would probably not want anyone to make crazy manoeuvres on me. So, I lost probably three, four laps that were the key to finish more in front.

“Then, in the last three laps I got a problem with the transponder, and the electronics of the bike was completely gone.

“I lost one position for that reason and I lost a bit of pace. A bit of bad luck, but we managed to finish the race.

“I’m happy with the pace, honestly. I’m disappointed for my season in general, because we always had problems, some bad luck, some mistakes.”