Last season saw Joan Mir become only the sixth r꧟ider in history to winꦆ a 500cc/MotoGP World Championship for Suzuki.

Of those, only one Suzuki champion has so far been able to repeat the feat, Ba🎉rry Sheene winning both the 1976 and 1977 500cc crowns.

Meanwhile, Marco Lucchinelli (1981), Franco Uncဣini (1982), Kevin Schwantz (1993) and Kennꦦy Roberts (2000) had to be content with a single title.

At the age of juᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚst 23, time is certainly on Mir's side as far as eventually joining Sheene as a multiple Suzuki champion, should the Spaniard elect to remain at the Hamamatsu factory for future years.

On the other hand, circumstances mean 2021 cu🐬rrently looks as good a chance as any for Mir to add title number two.

Firstly, the unique Covid technical fr🐎eeze banning engine development until next season reduces the chances of Suzuki's rivals pulling clear of the well-balanced and proven GSX-RR package over the winter.

Although chassis development remains unhindered, any major chassis changes nearly always involve alteringꦗ the engine.

"The engine is an important part of thꦺe bike, also in terms of chassis, so it's really difficult to change completely the 🌠chassis without also changing the engine," explained Ducati Corse general manager Gigi Dall’Igna.

The second boost to Mir﷽'s title defence is the news that six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez will unfortunately miss at least the opening two rounds of the se♕ason, as he continues his lengthy recovery from complications to a broken right arm.

After so long off the bike, even if Marquez makes☂ a comeback at round three in Portimao, he is expected to need at least several races to get back to his usual speed.

Mir was ranked seventh on the 2021 ♔Qatar pre-season testing timesheets, but his average pace looked a match for anyone. And if the #36 can score even a single point at Losail on Sunday, that'll be a better start than he managed in last year's campaign, where he crashed out of the Jerez season-opener.

“It’s great to get back to racing after the winter break," said Mir, who finished eighth on his only previous Qatar MotoGP appearances; his 2019 MotoG💃P race debut.

"Qatar is quite a 𝕴good circuit for me, and although we didn’t race here last year, I’m 🐼pretty familiar with it right now due to all the testing and training we’ve done here.

"I’m ready to give my all to kick off this new𝐆 season in a good way, and I’m just counting down the hours now!”

Team-mate Alex Rins ✨also has reason to feeꦐl optimistic for the new season, arriving fully fit after battling shoulder problems throughout 2020.

“The atmosphere in 🙈Qatar is always amazing; when you see the sun go down and all the floodlights come on, you know it’s something special," said Rins, who like Mir took one race victory last se✱ason and went on to finish third in the world championship.

"Everybod♔y is ready to battle after the off-season so I think the race will be an exciting one and I feel ready for it! I got fourth here in 2019 but I’d like to go higher and aim for a podium."

Shinichi 𝓰Sahara, Suzuki Project Leader and now Team Director after Davide Brivio's departure, added:

“We are excited to start this new season. We are the only team with an unchanged line-up, and I think that is a big help because we have a🌠 lot of stability w🥀ithin our team and with our two riders.

"Both Joan and ♛Alex are very strongღ and they have completed a great pre-season preparation, training hard and gaining good feelings with the GSX-RR.

"The whole team decided to put in the effort to remain in Qatar instead of going home to their families during the b💜reak, and now all that remains is to start our job on the track!”