Alex Rins shares with his teammate the fact of having scored two blank results at Le Mans and Mugello, but unlike Joan mir, his name is currently little mentioned on the 2023 Mercato board even if Italian rumor sees him at Ducati, and the Barcelona player has no choice but to shine at home if he wants to raise his rating even a little before it is too late.
That's what he did
this morning by establishing himself as the fastest during the first free practice session of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix. But as
Maverick Vinales who finished the session just behind him, the Suzuki rider used a second set of tires, front and rear, unlike the majority of his opponents. It was therefore a sort of artifice for which we had to pay the price in the afternoon in FP2,
álex Kidneys then proving unable to improve his morning time while all the drivers largely did so, with the exception of
Raul Fernandez et
Remy gardner.
Some might think that we are not far from the definition of flash in the pan... However, the 26-year-old pilot rather considers it as a different strategy which he explains to us as follows: “ I tried a different strategy than normal this Friday. In FP1 I started with the hardest tire at the rear, then worked on the medium-medium combo, which suited me well, and I felt fast. I then started FP2 with this selection so I could assess performance in warmer conditions, before switching to the soft mediums at the end, but I didn't feel as good with it. The times cannot be compared to those of my colleagues because they used new tires in FP2. Nonetheless, I'm happy with how I started the weekend and my goal is to go straight to Q2 tomorrow. »
Si
álex Kidneys was unable to improve his morning time, this was also due to slight vibrations on his GSX-RR.
« We have difficulty managing the rear tire over the distance. This was a strength of Suzuki, but since Michelin made improvements we no longer have an advantage in this regard. We had problems with the soft tire when we wanted to do a fast lap because I had slight vibrations in the front tire. So I think we can do even better on Saturday. »
That's all we wish for this stage venue which, after what appears to be just a simple setback, could well shine at home on Sunday...
FP1/FP2 result of the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit:
Credit ranking: MotoGP.com
