Alex Rins runs off trying to pass Miller: “I almost crashed into him”
Alex Rins narrowly avoided contact with Jack Miller in the Italian MotoGP Sprint, but a trip through the gravel trap sent him to the back of the field.
A near miss while attempting to pass Jack Miller sent Alex Rins off track and down to last place in Saturday’s Italian MotoGP Sprint.
The Monster Yamaha rider had settled into an early 11th before engaging in a lap-three battle with Miller, Enea Bastianini and Fermin Aldeguer.
Rins briefly climbed to tenth after overtaking Miller, struggling on the hard front tyre, but was shuffled back to 13th as the skirmish continued.
Attempting to respond, the #42 ran wide while to avoid contact with the Pramac Yamaha rider, rejoining at the back of the field.
“I was trying to overtake Jack in corner 10, and I was there, on the limit, and I almost crashed into him,” Rins explained.
“I went wide to avoid impact, but after that small incident I was struggling today in the Sprint.”
Chatter was the main issue for Rins and factory team-mate Fabio Quartararo, who dropped from fourth to tenth.
“Neither Fabio nor Alex had the feeling needed to defend their positions,” said team director Massimo Meregalli.
“The bike started behaving differently in the very hot conditions this afternoon, and both riders suffered from a lack of grip and vibrations.”
Rins eventually regained one position by passing Honda rookie Somkiat Chantra to cross the line 18th, 24.661s behind race winner Marc Marquez.
“I didn't have a good feeling in the race, but I did during Q2,” said Rins, who set his best Mugello lap to be classified 0.675s behind the record pole time of Marquez.
“I improved my personal best lap time at Mugello by around 0.4s, so I'm quite happy about this.
“I'm starting from ninth again tomorrow – let's see what we can do!”
The Mugello MotoGP race starts at 2pm local time.
In this article
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.
