MotoGP: Alex Rins: “I’m ready, our target is to be on the front and fight for the World Championship.”
Alex Rins looks ahead to the 2021 season with the title in mind and Mir as his man to beat.
Alex Rins had a fantastic 2020 MotoGP campaign taking P3 overall with 4 podiums and a win to his name. This is majorly impressive given his crash at the season opener in Jerez which derailed his entire championship plans forcing him to miss said season opener with a shoulder injury, he suffered with pain and fatigue from this injury throughout the season, even at Misano which was 7 races into the season.
He bounced back very quickly from this injury early on and even led the race in Austria before crashing out, however, he complained that he wasn’t at 100% fitness and suffered from major fatigue which was slowing him down later on in races. Once he had recovered from this he shone in the second half of the season as he became a title threat to his teammate Joan Mir.
Rins has been using the offseason to recover further and bounce back for another attack on the title, he was privileged enough to watch his teammate win in 2020 with Suzuki also winning the teams title.
Speaking to MotoGP.com he feels he can really improve on 2020 and will give his all to beat Mir to the title this year, he said, “The first rival is your teammate, so I will give 100% to beat him, he is the first one [rival]. He got the title last year and for sure he will try to keep it.”
“I see my rivals as very strong, already last year the competition was so high, a lot of different winners. The back-to-back races made everything tighter. The key to being World Champion is to be always on the front [leading races].”
Suzuki’s strength on and off the track in 2020 was matched by absolutely no one.
Speaking on his injured shoulder he is incredibly positive and thinks he is ready to tackle a championship fight.
“I’m really impressed. The shoulder is going really well, in the gym I don’t have any problems now. Before with this problem of the right shoulder, sometimes in the gym, there were problems but now I feel perfect.”
“I’m in a better situation with his shoulder, it’s more stable. I’m ready, our target is to be on the front and fight for the World Championship.”
Although Suzuki have been complimented by many riders including Fabio Quartararo for having ‘the best bike’, Rins still feels it can be improved, despite being the champions and getting a 1-3 in the championship. Rins is comfortable and knows he and Suzuki are working very well but the dynamic of the frozen development means he will race the same bike he raced in 2020 once again this year, making for an even closer season than we saw last year.
“We always can improve. Suzuki and the rest. We are at a very high level and I’m happy about this because we worked hard to get this. We are in the place we need to be. I can talk for myself. I work every day for the maximum. I think the bike is good. Let’s see where we are next year. The bikes will be the same because of the frozen engines. We can change the fairings and that’s it.”
We look forward to seeing his battle for the title, he’s proven time and time again he is more than strong enough to contend for the title.
Featured images – Suzuki
