Rins: “We have a very nice project in perspective”

After the Portuguese GP, Alex Rins was leading the general classification tied on points with fabio quartararo ; the Frenchman led the championship thanks to his victory in Portimão. 

But the day after the next meeting in Jerez, Suzuki announced that it was leaving the MotoGP at the end of the season. From there, the results of the two representatives of the Japanese factory began to fall. Coincidence? “It’s a million dollar question,” Livio Suppo, former manager of the Suzuki team in Valencia, told us. It's very, very, very difficult to understand whether this had an influence or not, but the team's approach has not changed. »

However, it was a difficult pill to swallow for Rins and his teammate Joan Mir. Rins also admitted to having cried a lot when he learned of this decision. “Of course it was hard when we heard the news,” Rins said in an interview with one of his sponsors. After this news, we had several races with bad results, due to bad luck, and we found ourselves several times in collisions with other drivers, who hit me. In one of them I broke my hand and then it was like an accumulation of bad things. But in the end, without giving up, we managed to come back and achieve the end of the season that we did. »

Rins indeed experienced two regrettable incidents with Takaaki Nakagami in Italy and Catalonia, but the Spaniard regained his splendor during the Australian GP which he won with less than two tenths ahead of Marc Mark. He then concluded the year and the Suzuki adventure in MotoGP with another success in Valencia. “The end of the season that we achieved with two victories in the last three races was remarkable (…). I deserved it just like the team deserved it, so I think we had a great end to the season. »

New chapter with Honda 

Next year, Rins will ride a Honda RC213V from the LCR team alongside Takaaki Nakagami. “I want to continue to progress as a driver and as a person,” Rins hopes. We have a very nice project in perspective and I would like to make it grow and develop a winning bike again (…) Honestly, at the moment it is difficult to set a goal or an objective, so we will see what the future holds for us. »

In any case, Rins warns: in 2023, there will be “a better version of Alex than the one that existed until last year. »