Yamaha announced on Thursday, ahead of the British Grand Prix, the renewal of Alex Rins for the next two seasons, until the end of 2026.
This means that the Iwata manufacturer will keep the Spaniard and Fabio Quartararo in its official team, as a pair of riders. At 28, Rins is in his eighth year in the premier class, in which he boasts six victories and where his best performance was third place in 2020, when he was part of the Suzuki team, the year in which Joan Mir, then his neighbor, celebrated the title.
The closure of the Hamamatsu factory team (2022) precipitated his departure towards the Honda of the LCR team (2023). After the victory in Austin, in the midst of the crisis of the golden wing manufacturer, the #42 suffered the most serious accident of his career in Mugello, in which he shattered his right leg, forcing him to undergo several surgeries, which kept him away from racing for more than half the season.
Although Rins has always maintained that the lack of movement in his leg affected him and that it hurt much more when walking than on the bike, there is no doubt that the injury has had an impact on his performance on the track. After the accident in Italy, his best Grand Prix finish was ninth in Indonesia last year, when he was still riding for Lucio Cecchinello’s team.
Even in this season, his first as a Yamaha rider, Rins has not had much luck. Especially considering that he crashed again on the first lap of the Dutch Grand Prix, shortly after having agreed to extend his contract with the Iwata manufacturer, waiting only for the signature and the announcement.
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Yamaha sees the Barcelona rider as a key player in the development and evolution of the M1, especially after having doubled its commitment in MotoGP, with the recovery of the satellite team, which from 2025 will be Pramac.
In this sense, the announcement of Miguel Oliveira is expected soon, who will leave Aprilia Trackhouse Racing to join Paolo Campinoti’s team. There are still some doubts about who will be the Portuguese’s teammate, although everything seems to indicate that he will come directly from Moto2.
“I am very happy to continue working with Yamaha for another two years and I want to thank the team and the management in Iwata for the trust they have placed in me. We have a clear objective: to take Yamaha where it belongs, which is to fight for the title,” said Rins.
“From the first minute, I saw Yamaha’s desire to improve and to deploy all resources to achieve this goal. As a result, and thanks to our work, we have taken important steps in this direction this season and we want to continue like this in the following years. I am happy to continue to bring my MotoGP experience and my work ethic to a team that has shown that it pushes hard and will continue to do so,” he added.
Managing Director Lin Jarvis was also pleased with this renewal: “We have made it clear that we have a strong desire and intention to return to the top of MotoGP. To achieve this, we have already hired new staff, changed our internal organisational structures and expanded our external technical partnerships. We have also committed to expanding our presence in 2025 with a second independent Factory Team and now is the time to ensure we have the riders we want to achieve the results we, and they, desire.”
“Signing Alex for a further two years is an important part of our plan for the MotoGP project. Alex is not only a very talented and fast rider, but he is also a technical expert, a hard worker and a true team player. The collaboration between Alex and Fabio gives Yamaha the certainty that together we can strengthen the development project of the bike”, concluded the British manager.
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