Alex Rins hasn’t put together a good weekend in what are his last races with Suzuki. The Barcelona rider declared at the start of the Asian tour, prior to the Japanese Grand Prix, that he saw it possible to get on the podium before Suzuki pulls out of MotoGP. However, Motegi was a weekend to forget, and he ended up being forced to leave early.
At the Thai Grand Prix things seem to be going better for him, but he still can’t get everything in line to be in a position to pop the champagne. In FP4 he proved to have one of the best race pace , but in qualifying he struggled to set a fast lap.
Finally, Rins will start from the tenth position ; a result that does not satisfy the always demanding Catalan driver. “I think I’m one of the riders with the fastest pace…but I’m starting tenth,” he declared after qualifying practice on Saturday.
With the optimism that characterizes him, the #42 looks capable of climbing positions in the early stages of the race, although he admits that “it will be difficult”. “On the first lap there are a couple of hard stops that can give us a chance,” he explained.
However, he is aware that, once the peloton begins to break up, it will be more difficult to continue climbing places. “About going back, beyond the first two laps, everything will depend on the sensations in the front end. In my case, with a full tank they are not extremely good”.
As an aggravating circumstance, Rins does not have the help of Joan Mir on the other side of the box, injured since the last Austrian Grand Prix, more than a month ago. In Motegi he had Takuya Tsuda, and in Thailand he is accompanied by Danilo Petrucci (who will start from the last position), so the data collection on the track is very limited.
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