Alex Rins towards the first race of the MotoGP season. He points out Suzuki’s weak point on the straight, but he is ready to fight. “We don’t look like a podium, but who knows …”
MotoGP qualifying ended and it’s the ninth box on the grid for Alex Rins, just in front of his box mate. Not quite the result he would have wanted, but neither is it the worst possible, even if he still paid seven-tenths of Bagnaia’s record time. But as they say, the points come in the race and the # 42 driver is ready for battle. By aligning himself with his colleagues, he is not expecting a very high pace, but it will be necessary to take advantage of Suzuki’s strong points over the weak points, above all speed on the straight. Hoping to be able to bring the blue of the Hamamatsu house to the top.
“I’m quite happy with the qualifying, I managed to improve my time, even though I expected something more.” In short, there continue to be the known difficulties on the flying lap for the drivers of the Japanese team. Although the ninth box is a good place to start. “Not great, but not bad either. But the feeling has changed compared to Friday, when I was able to do everything in a simpler way. The track conditions were different, but we also made some changes on the bike in terms of electronics“. And he doesn’t spare a joke: “Maybe with more balls I would have been faster“.
ABOUT THE RACE
For the race, “We will have to do some strategy. It is not clear what pace the others will have, but I think it is difficult to keep a low 1:54. If we push too hard from the start, we ruin the tires. If it doesn’t work, plan B will be full gas!”. In short, the Spanish driver is confirmed ready for battle. “It seems he is not fighting for the podium, but in the race everything changes,” he declared. “We’ll see if we can bring the blue up, if nothing else we’ll try!” Highlights? “I would say almost all the corners of the track, except the straight. We tried in FP4, we could catch up with the others, but we weren’t able to overtake.”
As everyone has pointed out, the tires wear a lot on this track. But it doesn’t seem to be a difficulty for Rins. “The rear is degrading but we don’t have too many problems, I can defend myself. We tried during free practice, I put together several laps. The same happens with the front. But everything will also depend on the pace that will be kept in the race, for the moment it is difficult to make any predictions.” He also stresses that “We are pushing for them to put the device. Even if in the past we managed to fight without“.