The discovery of the GSX-RR proved catastrophic for Alex during the first test in Valencia, with a fall causing a serious injury to his vertebrae. Nobody expected a miracle a month and a half later at Sepang, but yet Rins obtained a very honest twelfth time out of 28 drivers present.
He was then 0.6 behind the two best times of Maverick Vinales and his own teammate Andrea Iannone. No one would have predicted that he would precede him at Phillip Island, and yet... In Australia, the first day was largely favorable to The Maniac who ranked third at 0.4 from leader Marquez, while Alex was nineteenth at 1.9 . The situation turned in the Spaniard's favor on the second day, with Rins ninth, 0.9 behind Vinales and Iannone twelfth, 1.1 behind.
The third and final day was extremely surprising, with Alex setting a superb sixth time, 0.5 behind Vinales, while Iannone could do no better than thirteenth, 0.9. It was a progression that was all the more dazzling as Rins ranked second among the rookies, six hundredths behind Jonas Folger, another good surprise from Phillip Island.
For Alex Rins, “ The truth is that I am very satisfied with these three days of testing. Aside from my best lap, the most important thing is that our progress during the sessions was consistent and significant, decreasing by more than 2,3 seconds from the first day.
“We are able to understand the machine better and also develop finer sensitivity with settings and modifications. With my team, we work very intensively, and it pays off in the end. We still have a lot of room for improvement, both in the GSX-RR and in my riding, but our ideas are becoming clearer after each session.
“I also had a small crash today, but it didn't affect my performance. I am satisfied with these days and convinced that we will be able to continue improving. »
