Rins relishes maiden MotoGP podium, first win “close”

Alex Rins says his first MotoGP podium fuels him with confidence that he and Suzuki can challenge for victory this year.

The Spanish rider suffered a frustrating fall during the 2018 MotoGP opener in Qatar but bounced back in style in the manic Argentina race to take third place having led his first MotoGP laps during the intense four-way fight for victory with Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and Jack Miller.

Rins relishes maiden MotoGP podium, first win “close”

Alex Rins says his first MotoGP podium fuels him with confidence that he and Suzuki can challenge for victory this year.

The Spanish rider suffered a frustrating fall during the 2018 MotoGP opener in Qatar but bounced back in style in the manic Argentina race to take third place having led his first MotoGP laps during the intense four-way fight for victory with Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and Jack Miller.

Rins says his firsts rostrum for Suzuki is due reward for hard work over the winter developing Suzuki’s GSX-RR after a challenging rookie MotoGP campaign blighted by injury which saw him miss five races.

“I am very happy for this podium, my first in MotoGP, we worked really hard in the pre-season with Suzuki and at the factory, my team and I,” Rins said. “In Qatar I had a small mistake and I crashed but I was thinking that maybe I can finish in the top five or six. Here we started on Friday with a lot of optimism.

“I was trying to be calm on the grid but with the start delayed I was a little bit nervous. From the beginning I stayed calm and I was behind Jack almost all the race. When he was first I was second and I was thinking maybe if I overtake maybe I can open a small gap because I was followed him really easily. I was trying to overtake three or four times but the track conditions were very bad and there were a lot of wet patches off of the line.

“When I was first in the middle of the race I made a small mistake. I stayed calm and tried to fight for the victory but I am very happy.”

Rins feels the experience fighting at the front for Suzuki means he can take confidence hunting down a potential maiden win in the premier class during 2018.

“We are working really hard for the position and to win and we’ve improved a lot but my experience is higher now than last year,” he said. “I suffered a lot with injuries last year but I am quite happy because we are now working in a good way. I don’t know when the victory will arrive but I am sure we are close.”

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