The conference held after the MotoGP British Grand Prix at the Silverstone circuit welcomed Álex Rins, Marc Márquez and Maverick Viñales.
As usual, we report here the raw words of Alex Rins, without the slightest journalistic interpretation.
Álex, this is your 2nd victory in MotoGP and the 4th closest finish in the premier category. It all came down to the last corner. Tell us…
Alex Rins : " amazing ! This race has been crazy for me. I made a few mistakes and was very close to crashing in the first corner. I don't know if it was because the tire was too cold or something else, but whatever it was I was able to climb back up. Before the race, I knew that Márquez and Quartararo would be the 2 guys to beat, so if I stayed with them during the first part of the race, I would have possibilities at the end of it. We then started to play a little then Marc closed the throttle. I then led a lap in front of him but I let him pass very quickly because he was incredibly faster than me in the last sector and I didn't want to show my weak point. But on the last lap, I made up a lot of time on him then I made a very big mistake with 2 laps to go thinking it was the last lap. I tried to pass it outside and when I saw that it kept opening full throttle, I said to myself “Alex, there is one turn left, you have to hold it”. The last corner was the only place to beat him and it went like that, so I'm very happy. »
We saw today that the Honda and the Suzuki behaved differently, the first accelerating very hard, the 2nd being able to surprise Honda at the edge. How much did this influence your strategy until the final turn?
“In the middle of the race I was able to gain a lot of tenths in the last corner, but in the two previous corners he was much faster: he took me 1/2 second in T16 and T17. But I could recover a lot of time in the last corner. It happened like this and I am very happy. »
What difference do you see between your victory today and the one in Texas?
“I think those 2 wins, in Texas and here, were definitely tough. Honestly, I didn't think I would win the race because Marc and Fabio had more potential than us, a little more, and in Texas it was also the case for Valentino and Marc who were faster than me. Here, I felt very comfortable behind him at one point during the race and I was driving very well behind him. That way, I was able to try to play for a chance to win in the last corner, and it happened like that. »
This is the second victory for a Suzuki at Silverstone. Is there another track where the Suzuki can be very competitive between now and the end of the season?
“I think the main objective for us, now that we have a very good base and a competitive bike since I have almost always been there to fight except for the 2 draws, which I finished 3 times on the podium with a lot of 4th and 5th places, consistency is the key. I will try to finish in the top 3 positions from now until the end of the championship and we will see what happens. We knew it would be difficult with this guy (Márquez), but of course we will try. »
You almost did the whole race behind Marc so you must have been interested in the performance differences between the Honda and the Suzuki. Compared to the Honda, where are your strong and weak points?
“I think in the first, the 2nd and half of the 3rd sector I was stronger than him: in all the fast corners and the chicane. But at the end, in the last sector except the last corner, he was much faster than me: all the acceleration after the 16th corner and the 17th. I was lucky to gain a lot of meters in the last corner, otherwise he would have gone. »
Do you think you had more tires at the end?
" Maybe. Maybe I kept my tires behind him more, and that was a good thing too. »
Your victory looks like a Kevin Schwantz victory. Are you proud of the spectacular way you won the race?
" I'm very proud ! Yes of course. If you look at the papers, also in the past, Suzuki made a comeback in 2016 while Honda, Yamaha and Ducati have many more years in the MotoGP premier class. We knew they were working very hard but Maverick can say this: Suzuki is doing a good job, working all the time. »
For a moment, you turned around to see where the next ones were. Were you really confident because you made a mistake right after?
“I looked behind because I wanted to check where Maverick was. I was comfortable driving on this part of the circuit compared to Márquez, then when I put my head forward again, I put a little more angle and as soon as I opened the throttle the rear immediately started to slide: that scared me. »
How important is this victory over Márquez for you mentally?
“This race is very important for me but even more for Suzuki. They worked very hard and I was very close, I was close, in many races after Texas, but to win this race is incredible! This means that our bike is competitive, but we must not relax, and continue to work and improve the bike to reach the maximum level.”
At the moment, we passed you the “Maping 3” sign. What did he mean?
“It was to reduce the power to preserve the tire. »
And it obviously worked...
“Obviously!” (Laughs) »
MotoGP British Grand Prix standings:
Credit rankings and photo: MotoGP.com
