The British Grand Prix press conference was Alex Rins’ first public appearance after the announcement of the agreement with the LCR-Honda team. The current Suzuki rider has admitted that he is excited about the future ahead of him.
“I am very excited to have been able to announce the arrival to the LCR team in 2023, this is great news for me”, explained the Catalan. “I will try to bring all my experience to improve the Honda, I will work hard to create a competitive and winning bike”.
However, Rins wanted to give priority to the second half of the current season which he still has to face: “There are nine races left this year and Suzuki is doing well, I’d like to regain the competitiveness of the beginning of the season, when we managed to get a couple of podiums. . In the last few races we struggled a bit with a wrist injury in Barcelona, but we will try to get back to our best level ”.
For Rins, Silverstone is a place that brings back great memories, it is no coincidence that he won in 2019 in a hard-fought final with Marc Márquez: “It will be a difficult race, many people think and tell me that here I will win or get on the podium, but the MotoGP level at the moment is very high and everyone is going very fast, we’ll see if we can improve the setup of the bike and have a good weekend. The key to the race is to qualify well on Saturday, this will mark how things go on Sunday. “
Alex Rins, Suzuki MotoGP Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Another issue raised during the press conference was the news that Portimao will host the first race of the 2023 season instead of the usual Qatar night event: “It will be a different start to the season, since I arrived in the World Championship in 2012 we have always started in Qatar, I don’t know how things will change, but for me starting in Portimao is fine because it’s a good circuit ”.
The Long Lap Penalty that the world leader Fabio Quartararo will have to serve on Sunday for pushing Aleix Espargaró off the track in the last race at Assen was another topic of discussion. In Barcelona, Rins was the victim of much more aggressive action by Takaaki Nakagami, who was not penalized on that occasion.
“There are two types of crashes, those in which you start overtaking and you lose the front, like that of Fabio in Assen, and the action in Barcelona. What I don’t understand is why the rider was not penalized at Montmelo, but Fabio did. I don’t understand it very much, I don’t fully agree with the penalty, it’s difficult for us to understand, but I think they have to start sooner or later. “
Finally, the riders were asked for their opinion on Andrea Dovizioso’s decision to hang up his helmet after the Misano Grand Prix: “It’s not an easy decision, it’s complicated to stop racing, but right now he doesn’t feel competitive in terms of lap times and in this situation it is better to stop. For me he was a reference rider, he did great races and battles, so I wish him the best of luck in motocross, where we will certainly see him in the future “.
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