Rins: "If I get offers from abroad, we'll listen to them"

February 5, 2022

In a conversation held this Saturday in Sepang with the leader of the Suzuki project in MotoGP, Shinichi Sahara , the engineer assured that the Hamamatsu house intends to renew its current pair of riders, Joan Mir and Alex Rins, and that thus he had let both runners know.

That Suzuki ‘s interest in renewing Mir is absolute is not lost on anyone, nor is it that the rider is studying alternatives outside of his current structure if the bike does not end up being as competitive as he hopes.

What was not so 100% clear is that Suzuki was willing to renew Rins even before starting his last contract season, which ends at the end of 2022.

The Catalan, valued this Saturday from Sepang the intentions of his factory, and left a somewhat unexpected detail, assuring that he will “listen to offers”.

When Rins was asked about Sahara’s statements, whether his intention was to renew or if he had an offer on the table, the pilot left all the doors open.

“I don’t know, I don’t know if there are other possible options, that’s up to my manager. Honestly, I feel comfortable at Suzuki, I’m not going to say I want to leave, but if someone comes to ask, we’ll listen, and that doesn’t mean that I’m going to leave or I’m going to stay at Suzuki. I’m very grateful for everything they’re doing, I like the bike and I feel great in this team. I’ll focus on doing some good practices, on having some good first races and that I leave work to Miquel”, in reference to his manager, Miquel Galvarriato .

Third on the time sheet

Returning to the sporting plane, Rins managed to finish with the third best time (1.58.471) on the time sheet, surpassed at the last minute by Maverick Viñales, who mounted new rubber, and only one exact tenth of the best time of the day, left by Aleix Espargaró (1.58.371), both with Aprilia.

Therefore, the Suzuki rider was the fastest rider on track among those who got on the bike for the first time this year at Sepang, as both Maverick (two days) and Aleix (on Wednesday) had already ridden in the shakedown test for testers.

With 72 laps, Rins was the driver who lapped the most this Saturday, with many new parts to test, according to the team.

“Honestly we have things to test, but most of them were already in (the test in) Jerez (in November), the engine and the chassis were already there, here they have brought some new wings, which we did not like very much, we are quite far behind in this sense”, lowered the euphoria the Barcelonan.

“The engine is going well on a new track after it went well in Jerez, the chassis is similar, it has to be adjusted. The swingarm is different, it hasn’t gone bad at all, but laps are missing and the electronics need to be fine-tuned,” he added.

Despite these tribulations, Rins managed to set a good one-lap time.

“We have taken good potential out of it in one lap, but it is also true that I have done it over time with last year’s chassis and the new engine, that is good news, it seems that the engine is going well,” settled the #42 .

Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP