In what looked like a repeat of many MotoGP races from 2021,ꦜ Joan Mir was unable to battle for victory despite being a pre-race favourite. 

Prior to Su꧑nday's race Mir and team-mate Alex Rins looked to have the best race pace of anyone, however, a difꦦficult qualifying session, not for the first time, left the pair in eighth and tenth. 

Following a brilliant start which s𒉰aw Mir gain four places on the opening la♔p, the Suzuki rider failed to advance any further, instead losing two places come the end of the race. 

Speaking after Friday practice, Mir was convinced the team was in a better position despite the 2022 GSX-RR not being a 'revolution', ju🐈st and 'evolution' of last season's package. 

Mir said: "They (Honda, Ducati🔯) changed completely the engine. In our case it was not like this. The character of the bike is the same. 

"Now we just have a little bit more on top and this doesn’t make our life more difficult on the change of direction or in the middle of the corners because the power delivery i🔜s really similar. 

"Like I said, it was not a revolution but it was a cle🍎ar evolution, especially on the high rpm’s. 

"Also we are using the device (holeshot) that before we were not. It’🐟s not that before we were so far.&nbꦰsp;

"Last year we could see it was really difficult here, but for sure last if we had tജhe device; it’s not that we made a huge step, we just improved the topಌ speed." 

To Mir's point, Suzuki's top speed gains over the pr♑e-season have been mightily impressive as they ended day-one at Lusail quickest with a recorded speed of 355.7kmph. 

So while improvements have clearly been made, Honda, KTM and Aprilia al♔l seemed to take even bigger steps for𒀰ward based on the outcome in Qatar. 

Where does this leave Suzuki then… well the Japanes𒉰e manufacturer appears to have a bike that does everything well, such as handling, turning, braking and acceleration, therefore one that can certainly win races.

But in order to a🦋void stressing tyres too much, or leaving themselves with too much to do in terms of overtaking, a better qualifying performance in Indonesia would go a long way. 

It also remains to be seen if their lack of race pace ๊at the end of the Qatar GP, something that's always been a strength of Mir's and Suzuki's, was a one-off or whether 🧸more power from the engine has made it more difficult to keep tyre life intact.