Alex Rins: “When a rider blocks us… We cannot race”
Alex Rins targets turnaround at Jerez after feeling powerless to fight in Qatar MotoGP.
Alex Rins returns to home soil for this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP hoping to bounce back from a frustrating race in Qatar, where he says performance limitations left him unable to show his true potential.
Currently 16th in the world championship, the Monster Yamaha star is hoping the Jerez weekend - along with Monday’s crucial test - can help deliver the technical tools he needs to fight.
“I’m looking forward to seeing the European fans again,” said Rins. “Jerez is a nice track, and this GP always has a nice atmosphere, so I’m looking forward to it.
“I’m ready to go racing again – which is good because we have a lot of laps to do here!
“It’s not just the Spanish GP: on Monday we also have the Jerez Test when we will have the opportunity to focus on bike development.”
Rins knows what it feels like to shine at Jerez, having stood on the podium three times across Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP - most recently in 2019 when he finished second in the premier class.
But his last outing in Qatar highlighted the gap Yamaha still needs to close, both in terms of power and drive, with Rins left stuck behind slower riders for much of the race.
“[I was hit on the arm by a stone] and it was super painful,” he said. “And then, we gave it everything. I mean, there is nothing [more] to do.
“When we have a rider in front, like for me was Ogura, who blocks us - he’s doing his race, but I had more performance and I needed to wait until he made a mistake to overtake him.
“I mean, we cannot race like this…. They know what they need to improve.”
Like team-mate Fabio Quartararo, Rins pointed to corner exit and straight-line acceleration as key weaknesses, admitting he was powerless when rivals surged past before the braking zone.
“Corner exit and power on the straight. Two riders overtook me, one on the inside and one on the outside, before the braking in corner one. So it’s difficult to manage on the bike, as a rider… But I overtook Marini [Honda] on the straight, so we took the positive part!”
The last six places on the Qatar top speed charts contained three Hondas and three Yamahas.
Fortunately for the Japanese factories, Jerez has much shorter straights compared to the opening rounds at Buriram, Termas, COTA and Lusail.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
