Mir: 2019 MotoGP move more important than Moto2 title

Reigning Moto3 champion Joan Mir says he would rather move up to MotoGP in 2019 than spend extra time in Moto2 just to become a champion.

Mir will spend his rookie Moto2 season with reigning champion outfit Marc VDS this year following his title success in the lightweight class last season.

The 20-year-old Spaniard has had a troubled pre-season as he was forced to miss one of the two Jerez tests due to injuring his right shoulder a motocross crash, although he is expected to be fit for this weekend's Qatar opener.

Mir has been linked to a MotoGP graduation as soon as next year, potentially with the factory Honda team in place of Dani Pedrosa or at Suzuki in place of Andrea Iannone.

While Mir said last year that his priority was to become Moto2 champion, he has now clarified that he would rather go to MotoGP even if it means sacrificing success in the intermediate class.

"I would prioritise moving up," Mir told Motorsport.com when asked whether he would prefer to win the Moto2 title or make an early step up to MotoGP.

"In the end, you don't want to stay in Moto2, you want to move up. But I'm aware that if I'm not ready I will not do it.

"I want to continue my progression, which has been so good. I started [in Moto3] and had modest results in my debut, last year I was world champion and now I am in this very good team."

Mir reckons it's MotoGP where you "learn everything", which is why he would prefer to move quickly.

"Moto2 is very complicated, there is a lot of equality in everything and maybe you don't learn as much with electronics," he said. "Where you can learn everything is MotoGP."

Mir said that while he doesn't have a clause in his contract that would automatically guarantee him a MotoGP move, he is confident that if he is prepared, the "teams will want me".

"I don't have [a clause] but it's like, if you do it right, you'll move up," he added. "I have to prepare myself well to be able to move up.

"I have to be prepared first and then the teams will want me, not the other way around."

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