Alex Rins: Fabio “braking 15-metres later”, ride height change for Aragon MotoGP

Alex Rins has confirmed that Yamaha’s ride height device has been modified for this weekend’s Aragon MotoGP.

Team-mate Fabio Quartararo was left in tears at Silverstone when he was forced out of a safe lead when his device became locked in the lowered position with seven laps to go.

Rins also suffered the same issue on the final lap but was able to nurse his M1 to the finish in 15th, which became 13th after tyre pressure penalties for others.

“Yeah, they’ve changed some… let's say parts on the ride height device, because Fabio and myself, we had problems with it,” Rins said at Aragon on Thursday.

“They don't know 100% why the problem [happened]. But they changed a little bit something so that theoretically it doesn't happen again.”

Rins will be seeking his first grand prix top ten of the season on Sunday, at a track where he won for Suzuki in 2020.

“I'm feeling good. I won here in the past. It’s a track that I really enjoy,” he said of the challenging MotorLand layout. “It has a little bit of everything, hard braking, braking with angle and also fast corners.

"I will give my maximum to do a good GP starting from Friday with trying to gain entry into Q2.”

“Fabio’s able to brake 15 metres later!”

Quartararo has been peerless in terms of one-lap speed in recent events, securing pole position at the last three rounds.

Rins revealed that braking is one area where the Frenchman has an edge over the other M1s.

“Fabio’s able to brake 15 metres later than me!" he said. "We need to fix this, at least [over] one lap, because it’s where he was making the difference between the Yamaha riders.

“He’s able to brake later than us and stop the bike - maybe for his setup, it's completely different to ours. But every rider has their own riding style and setting. Let's see if we can do a step here.”

After seven rounds, Quartararo holds eighth in the world championship, with Pramac’s Jack Miller in 16th and Rins 17th.