MotoGP, cold snap between Alex Rins and Honda at Jerez: "I was quite surprised because they told me that only Bradl was going to test the new frame and I heard that Mir had also tried it"

Alex Rins ended an 18-month drought without a Honda victory at the last Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, but he noted in Jerez that the feat had changed nothing in his relationship with HRC. The trigram, in its working method, remains straight in its boots. Its engineers work on the bike without necessarily taking the rider into confidence and, above all, any major novelty first goes through the official Repsol box. Two situations that the LCR driver experienced during the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, then during the test in Jerez on Monday. Disappointed, he does not hide his disappointment when leaving Andalusia.

It’s a alex rins came down from his Texan cloud who took stock of his not three but four days spent in Jerez on his Honda RC213V. Because at Spanish Grand Prix followed by a test day on the Monday following the weekend of the fourth round of the MotoGP season. The opportunity to see if his status had evolved at Honda after his success in Austin. And the answer was given to him…

First, there was Jerez version Spanish Grand Prix which was on the verge of disillusionment: “ after the victory in Austin, we knew this track was very different. The turns are much tighter. We started from scratch ". To arrive at the same value at the time of reckoning… “ We struggled a lot to find our place and our settings, but in the first race I got off to a good start. It's also a shame because of the red flag. Then we had problems with the clutch, he started skating and I was quite nervous at first too, but then I felt good. We had a good start again and it's a shame to have crashed after just one lap. We watched the telemetry, I didn't do anything strange at turn 9, it was just an inexplicable slide at the front. I do not know what happened. It's a shame to end the weekend like this ».

However, if alex rins remains in ignorance of the causes of his accident, he has a doubt which leads him to talk about Honda ... " When I came out to do the second race, we were testing a new clutch that Honda told us to install and the clutch was slipping coming out of every corner. Then for the race, we tried a mudguard with holes to release some heat. I had never tried it before and they gave it to me like this. The truth is that it surprised me. I don't know if the accident was due to this or not ».

**Alex Rins: “ it's surprising that we haven't found anything to improve the settings, we are a team and we must be united »**

The Spaniard adds on this episode: “ I don't blame them, but the only thing I like is to try things before starting the race and see how they can go. We are a team and we must be united, just know these things for future races » he said, adding: “ Monday's test day will be very important for Honda. We're going to try a lot with aerodynamics. This is the package Stefan Bradl rode with this weekend. I will also test Joan Mir's chassis ».

Did this famous Monday help to dispel misunderstandings and doubts? Not really… " I made a fast time with a new fairing spec, but I expected something more » commented the teammate Nakagami who was the only one from the HRC clan to save points for Honda at the Grand Prix d’Epargne. He also points out this: “ I don't know how many frames they brought but they didn't give me a chance to try the new one, so we focused on aerodynamics. I was quite surprised, because originally they told me that only Stefan was going to test the new frame, the new chassis and I heard that Joan had also tried it. Unfortunately, his bike stopped in the sixth turn, but I was quite surprised ».

Takaaki Nakagami was also unable to try the Kalex whose name should no longer be pronounced at Honda. The Japanese was the fastest brand driver in 12th position followed by Mir in 15th grade, Kidneys 17th and Bradl in 19th (+1,2s), after 54 laps. The replacement of Marc Marquez at the Spanish Grand Prix, Iker Lecuona, did not participate in the test that Kidneys leaves with this last feeling: “ To me it's surprising that we didn't find anything to improve the settings. It was frustrating. We must look to the future ».