The times of the three free practice sessions gave the Barcelona rider the direct pass to the second qualifying screen (Q2), even though he had a hard time there for various reasons. Between the enormous power of the Ducati, the good work of Aleix Espargaró (fourth) and the resilience of Fabio Quartararo (sixth), Rins could not get past the ninth fastest time that will place him in the last place on the third row of the grid.
Faced with the complexity of overcoming the almighty Desmosedici, the Spaniard will have no choice but to try again to star in one of their own exits, dodging all the rivals he can, if he does not want to be left off the hook at the first opportunity.
“The positive aspect is that we have a good pace; the only one who seems to have a bit more margin is Fabio. The negative side is the qualifying. In MotoGP today, if you don’t qualify on the first or second row, the options are reduced”, declared this Saturday the only rider that Suzuki will line up in this Sunday’s race, once Joan Mir’s withdrawal due to injury was confirmed, who will not travel to Japan either.
“It is very frustrating to place yourself at someone’s wheel, as this time was the case with Pecco, and that they take eight tenths off you. There are brands that risk more others than less, but [at Suzuki] we are two steps behind,” lamented Rins, in a direct criticism of the conservatism of the Hamamatsu manufacturer, which once this season is over will put the lock on its MotoGP project.
When that happens, the #42 will already be a Honda rider, but until then he will have to bite and go out on the track with the means at his disposal. “We will start the race with the weapons we have. We will have to see how many positions we can recover at the start and from there, we will see”, stressed Rins, who in the last nine races has only been able to accumulate 32 points, a very poor background if we have Bear in mind that he arrived in Jerez, the sixth stop on the calendar, co-leading the World Cup.
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