Stunned by the announcement of Suzuki’s withdrawal at the end of the season, Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar), like all the members of his team, paid a heavy price despite an excellent GSX-RR 2022 during this MotoGP World Championship. Excluded from the fight for the world title for a long time, his very recent victory in Australia might well make it a spoilsport in view of postponing the attribution of the crown to Valencia…
At least that’s what he told reporters during the press conference ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix which takes place this weekend at the Sepang circuit.
Here are some of the topics covered…
How many times have you watched the race from Phillip Island already, and how much did it energize you and Suzuki?
“Of course, we watched the race three or four times with the team before getting on the plane. It was so nice; I mean, it was an iconic race. Like you said, it was the second closest top 10 so it was amazing, but I’m already thinking regarding the Sepang GP and we’ll see. I have good memories of the last few years here, 2018, 2019, and also in the pre-season test we were able to do a good test, a good set-up on the bike. We have a few new things on the bike compared to February that can help us improve the pace a bit that we were doing in the winter test, so let’s get to that. »
Does your performance in February make you confident to fight for the podium?
“I mean, that’s the goal. The objective is always, in each race, to try to fight for the places on the podium. I think we have the level, we have the bike, so let’s go. Everything can change. We also have to see the weather conditions because it looks like Sunday for the race, from 2 to 4 p.m., we will have rain. But we’re going to start from Friday, give it our all, and then look at our chances. »
What was your assessment of Honda’s performance?
“Honestly, for me, Honda started the season quite strongly in Qatar. Pol got on the podium, he was super fast, he was also impressive in the pre-season test. After Marc’s return, it’s true that he rides with new elements that I think the others don’t have, and I saw the bike quite good. For sure they need to improve a bit more, but in the race at Phillip Island, when he was riding in front of me, I saw the bike running quite well. We’ll see. »
Do you think Bagnaia will win the championship this weekend?
“For sure, he has the first chance to win the Championship here in Malaysia. It will be difficult for Fabio and Aleix because, as Enea said, in winter testing the guys from Ducati were riding quite fast here. But I hope it will wait until Valencia, it’s more exciting. It’s the last GP, the last in Spain, I’d like it to wait for Valencia. »
