Mir: "On this circuit, we knew we had something more"

Undefeated when he's raced at the Red Bull Ring, the Leopard Racing rider is now 64 points clear in the title fight

After having his fastest lap in qualifying disallowed for exceeding track limits, Championship leader and 2016 Red Bull Ring winner Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) had his work cut out to remain undefeated in Austria after being demoted to tenth on the grid - and it was far from a fairytale start for the Majorcan. Keeping his head down and pulling himself together, he then worked his way back through and eventually took over in the lead. Escaping the chasing pack soon after, it was ultimately a lonely ride in the latter stages, but proved another reminder of the mountain the rest of the grid have to climb if they are to stop the Spaniard taking the crown. He's now the first rider since Valentino Rossi to win seven or more of the opening eleven races of the season in the lightweight class. 

With that in mind, next up is Round 12 - and he's already 64 points clear. 

Joan Mir, P1: "It was a very hard race, but I wanted to win it! Throughout the weekend we worked very well with the team. In fact on this circuit we knew we had something more than the opponents and we saw today in the race! Departing from tenth I was worried a bit, but after the terrible start I had, I gave my best to recover. I did not want to be in the group because in this category it is always a risk. When I was in the lead and saw my advantage at just 0.5s I said it was time to push more and open the gap to everyone else. Before I was a patient pilot, this year I learned so many things, even to reason and handle delicate situations like this. My strongest point on this circuit was the braking. 64 points are so many, almost three races! It's a pity that we still have lots of other races [laughs]. Seriously, I'm looking at the rankings but I do not want to make calculations. We have to stay with our feet on the ground and try to always get points."