Alex Rins will start seventh on the starting grid of the Catalan Grand Prix, a date in which the Japanese team will have to give their best to face abrasive temperatures. Faced with this situation, the Suzuki rider will have to develop a strategy that involves good tire management.
“We started better than in the last few races, so these are positions that we already won from the start,” Alex Rins introduced after finishing Saturday. “It will be time to start well and perform well at the start, but the truth is that I am happy with the qualy. Tomorrow will be a management race, the tires will have to be managed a lot, Aleix [Espargaró] in FP3 has done a lot of laps, very fast , in 1:39, but I don’t know if the tire will hold up in the end. how’s it going”.
“I think the key for tomorrow’s race is to start well, manage the tires as well as possible. More or less we are close in pace, compare Aleix, Fabio, Pecco. So tomorrow, the victory will be whoever manages better tires.
The Suzuki rider is ready to start an event in which good tire management can guarantee a significant result.
“I will try to take care of the tyres. If we have a chance to lead and go, I will try for sure, but it will be difficult because sometimes you want to lead and you are asking too much of the tyres, so we will see during the race.”
“We haven’t put the hard one this weekend and I don’t want to risk it. And the rear, we are still deciding between the medium and the hard one. The medium one has more fall than the hard one but it has more grip at the beginning of the race and the The hard drive takes a couple of laps to warm up, so I don’t know what we’ll choose in the end.
As for whether he thinks leading for the last seven or eight laps can change everything, Alex was convinced.
“I think so. The pace, I think that in FP3 or FP4, Aleix or Fabio did a lot of laps in 39. (he asks and they confirm that it was Aleix in FP3). I don’t know if with that pace, [Aleix] would finish the race, but it could be that he starts at that pace, takes advantage, but those behind cut it in the last laps. We’ll see, it’s not easy.
“It has to be a normal race, in the end, if we manage to overtake at the beginning of the race and get fifth, fourth, I think we can go with the drivers in front, so I’m pretty calm about this,” he concluded.
