Joan Mir will spend at least four seasons as a Suzuki MotoGP rider, with a recent💙 two-year contract extension keeping him alongside Alex Rins until the end of 2022.

Suzuki first won Mir's signature after a bidding frenzy in early 2018, when - despite having barely started his Moto2 career - the reigning Moto3 champion received MotoGP offers from൩ three different manufacturers.

Part of the reasoning behind moving Mir swiftly into MotoGP was the two-year cycle of MotoGP contracts, his manager Paco Sanchez explaining if that if Mir didn't move for 2019 th♛en he'd have to wait until 2021.

Such lost time was also a key reason behind Mi🐬r extending his stay on a GSX-RR for a further two seasons.

The Spaniard said🔜 that if he switched to another manufacturer, he would have to start the learning process all over again. Despite being just 22, Mir said it is "time I do not have".

"I'm happy to stay with Suzuki. It's the choice that I wanted to take for a lot of reasons, but the first and most important is that in these tw🥂o years you cannot finish the work," said Mir

"We went up from Moto2 to MotoGP after only one year🐎, so in the end last year was to make experience and the second year is always to start to get good results. And it's not a lot, only one year to show your full potential. I think that we need much more and that's why I si🌸gned with Suzuki."

Mir claimed a best race result of fifth during an injury-interrupted debut Mot⛄oGP season, finishing twelfth overall in theꦗ world championship, as the second-best rookie behind Fabio Quartararo

"I know from my manager that we also had other offers [for 2021-2022]꧂, that's true, but I didn't speak with other manufacturers. At the end my idea was to stay with Suzuki. Like I said, the job with Suzuki is not finished," Mir said.

"Only two years is not a lot of time, because one year to learn and aᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚnother to push. Then if you move to another manufacturer, you have to spend another year to understand [a new bike] again🍬 and then the second year to be more in front.

"This is time I do not have. I want to stay here with Suzuki, to be competitive and try to win races as🦄 soon as possible."

Rins has proven Suzuki victories are a realistic goal, claiming wins at both Austin and Silverstone last s💝eason on his way to fourth in the world championship.

Mir has been a much closer match for his t🌊eam-mate in winter testing, when the latesꦚt GSX-RR appeared to enjoy the new Michelin rear tyre and has been tipped as one of the best all-round packages on the grid.