Cookie Consent by Free Privacy Policy website Equal best finish for Mir, heroic ride from Rins
july 27, 2020 - Suzuki Racing

Equal best finish for Mir, heroic ride from Rins

Team Suzuki Press Office - July 26.

Red Bull Grand Prix of Andalucia, race results:

Joan Mir: 5th (+ 7.693)
Alex Rins: 10th (+ 27.091)


Team Suzuki Ecstar made the best of extremely tough race conditions with excellent results from both riders. Joan Mir rode a sensible and tactical race to equal his best Suzuki finish, while Alex Rins displayed steely determination and heroics as he took 10th place.

Track temperatures topped a whopping 63°c for the 25 lap race, making for a physically demanding GP and a high attrition rate.

Despite qualifying on the fourth row, Mir used his consistent race pace to seal a strong finish. Slotting into eighth off the start line, he kept the leaders in sight for the first half of the race and settled into a decent rhythm in the early 1’39s. On Lap 7, he began to close in on Nakagami in front of him. As the race went on, he maintained this good pace and gained positions as others fell by the wayside. When the end of the race was drawing near, Mir - who was in fifth place - decided to conserve his result instead of trying to chase fourth. This sensible decision paid off and he secured 11 points, equaling his best finish of fifth place in Phillip Island last year.

Rins came into the Andalucian Grand Prix on the back foot after the shoulder injury he suffered just eight days earlier. Qualifying 20th on the grid, the plan was simply to ride for as many points as possible. However, he made a brilliant start and quickly slotted into 16th place despite having to take evasive action for a crash in front of him. He remained focused and maintained a strong pace with the majority of his laps in the mid-1’39s.
The last seven laps of the race saw Rins really struggling with intense pain, but he pushed through and continued to pick up places as the attrition rate rose. He took an incredible 10th place and six points at the finish line.

Rins will head to Barcelona this Monday for medical checks to assess the current condition of his shoulder. Team Suzuki Ecstar will be back on track on August 7th for the Czech GP.

Ken Kawauchi - Technical Manager:

“Today I’m really happy. We couldn’t show all our potential, but the riders did the best they could do for now. I want to say thank you to Alex, who fought today despite being in pain, it was great that he finished the race in 10th. Also thank you to Joan for a solid race and points. Next we’ll go to Brno, where Alex will be physically much better. We’ll try for the podium with both our riders. I’m looking forward to it.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager:

“I have to say thank you very much to Alex for the amazing effort he put in following the serious injury he got last weekend. Staying on the bike for 25 laps in this heat is very hard, and he really deserved the 10th place finish. We saw a lot of #people crashing, and it was a very hard race for everyone. Joan took a good step forward; he got a strong start, stayed calm, and managed his race well. Today we scored points, which was very important. We look forward to the next race where we hope for better results.”

Joan Mir:

“I’m very happy with what I managed to do; the team deserved a good result. When I was on track I felt that today could’ve been ‘podium day’ because I wasn’t far from it, and I saw a lot of other riders struggling or dropping out for various reasons. I think we did a really good race - and in the end I was only a little more than two seconds behind a podium place, so that’s good news. It was tough today because we didn’t have much information from last weekend to help us. But overall, I’m happy with my good and consistent pace.”

Alex Rins:

“The race was unbelievable; I was already suffering from the moment I joined the grid before the start. I got an incredible start but as the laps went on I started to feel more and more pain. With seven laps to go, it was really tough to continue; but after all the work that I’ve done since last weekend, as well as the doctors and my team, I just wanted to keep going. I never lost my faith and it allowed me to take this 10th place. I’ll continue with my recovery and hope to be on much better form for Brno.”

Red Bull Grand Prix of Andalucia – Race Classification:

1. Fabio QUARTARARO - Petronas Yamaha SRT - 41'22.666
2. Maverick VIÑALES - Monster Energy Yamaha #MotoGP - +4.495
3. Valentino ROSSI - Monster Energy Yamaha #MotoGP - +5.546
4. Takaaki NAKAGAMI - LCR Honda IDEMITSU - +6.113
5. Joan MIR - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - +7.693
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - Ducati Team - +12.554
7. #polespargaro - Red Bull KTM Factory #racing - +17.488
8. Alex MARQUEZ - Repsol Honda Team - +19.357
9. Johann ZARCO - Hublot Reale Avintia - +23.523
10. Alex RINS - Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - +27.091
11. Tito RABAT - Hublot Reale Avintia - +33.628
12. Bradley SMITH - Aprilia #racing Team Gresini - +36.306
13. Cal CRUTCHLOW - LCR Honda CASTROL - +1 Lap

Not Classified:
Francesco BAGNAIA - Pramac #racing - 6 Laps
Franco MORBIDELLI - Petronas Yamaha SRT - 9 Laps
Brad BINDER - Red Bull KTM Factory #racing - 13 Laps
Danilo PETRUCCI - Ducati Team - 14 Laps
Jack MILLER - Pramac #racing - 15 Laps
Aleix ESPARGARO - Aprilia #racing Team Gresini - 17 Laps
Iker LECUONA - Red Bull KTM Tech 3 - 20 Laps

Not Finished 1st Lap:
Miguel OLIVEIRA - Red Bull KTM Tech 3 - 0 Lap

MotoGP World Standing after GP of Andalucia:

1. Fabio QUARTARARO - Yamaha - 50
2. Maverick VIÑALES - Yamaha - 40
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO - Ducati - 26
4. Takaaki NAKAGAMI - Honda - 19
5. #polespargaro - KTM - 19
6. Valentino ROSSI - Yamaha - 16
7. Jack MILLER - Ducati - 13
8. Alex MARQUEZ - Honda - 12
9. Johann ZARCO - Ducati - 12
10. Franco MORBIDELLI - Yamaha - 11
11. Joan MIR - Suzuki - 11
12. Francesco BAGNAIA - Ducati - 9
13. Miguel OLIVEIRA - KTM - 8
14. Danilo PETRUCCI - Ducati - 7
15. Tito RABAT - Ducati - 7
16. Alex RINS - Suzuki - 6
17. Bradley SMITH - Aprilia - 5
18. Brad BINDER - KTM - 3
19. Cal CRUTCHLOW - Honda - 3
20. Aleix ESPARGARO - SPA
21. Iker LECUONA - SPA

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