Rins: "Neither I nor the team understand why we qualified so far behind"

Once again, Alex Rins was seriously penalized for a very late start on the grid at the San Marino Grand Prix. The boy from Suzuki had to start 12th in the starting frames, with a crowd of Ducati ahead, bikes that are difficult to overtake due to the tremendous dirty air that their aerodynamic package gives off.

Rins, who has been on the podium twice this year but has not done so since the Austin race on April 10, was upset by this difficulty that he does not fully understand.

“It was a tough race on a physical level, but also on a racing level itself, we gave it our all, it’s a shame I went too far in turn 4 and lost position with Jorge Martín, there I lost two laps in overtaking him again and They were the ones in front of us. I think we had the rhythm to fight with Luca Marini and even Pecco Bagnaia, a bit in the top 5, which was the goal we had set for this race. We gave everything, I wore myself out both physically and with the bike In the last few laps I suffered a lot with my right forearm and tire wear. Little else could be done”, Rins summed up his race.

Once again the handicap for the Suzuki riders was a poor qualifying on Saturday that condemned them, in this case Alex, to start far behind.

“Starting 12 is what it is. It is very difficult for me to understand, even the team has a hard time doing it, because we did not manage to classify better. Let’s see if now that long circuits are coming, such as Aragon, Japan or Malaysia, we can classify a little better”.

With Suzuki leaving the MotoGP World Championship at the end of the season, this Tuesday and Wednesday an official test arrives that for the Spanish rider does not make much sense.

“In principle, what we have to test we can do at noon, we don’t have many things, a fender to try to cool the front tire better, little electronics things, not much really”.

The next race for Alex is his home Grand Prix, in Aragon, very close to his family home in Valdealgorfa, an event that the Catalan can prepare for during these test days.

“They are totally different circuits, I don’t think I can look for a set-up here with Motorland in mind. It makes sense to do more laps with MotoGP and accumulate kilometres, but at the level of preparing for the race, no”.

At least with the season that the Suzuki team is going through, racing at home is an extra motivation.

“I don’t lose my motivation, I’m looking forward to racing at home, of course, but I’m also thinking about the World Cup. We know that the first three positions are lost, but I want to get podiums or a victory between now and the end of the season”.

It would be nice to say goodbye to Suzuki with a good result before finishing this adventure.

“Yes it would be, now comes Aragón, a circuit where we have had great races in the past, the Asian tour has always been good for us. Honestly, the Ducati are one step above, but we are going to try to get a good result before to end”.

In that sense, Pecco Bagnaia looks very strong, even to discuss the championship with Fabio Quartararo.

“I think so, in these last races Fabio is ahead but it is costing him a little bit. But I don’t see only Bagnaia strong, it is true that he has four wins in a row, Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini or Jack Miller are also very strong, that if he hadn’t made the mistake of falling he would have been in front for sure”, settled the Barcelonan.

Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP