Last time for Suzuki MotoGP at Silverstone circuit ends poorly

MGP-12-Alex Rins-R9

Team Suzuki Press Office – August 7.

Alex Rins: 7th (+ 3.021)
Joan Mir: DNF

Silverstone circuit is usually Suzuki’s cup of tea, but this year’s race proved to be another challenging day for the blue squad, despite Alex Rins showing fantastic pace.

A surprisingly toasty track greeted the MotoGP field and the 41,000 fans present, with temperatures on the ground reaching 44°c before the start of the 20 lap race. Rins got a superb jump off the line, charging from his 11th place grid spot up into fifth while Joan Mir was soon up into eighth place. A great pass on Bagnaia put Rins into fourth, and by the end of lap five he had moved into second – thanks partly to Quartararo’s penalty and Zarco’s crash. However, once in the position Rins showed his strength; setting the fastest lap immediately, taking over the race lead one lap later, and pulling a lead of seven tenths of a second.

Mir was trying hard to settle into his rhythm and climb up the pack but, while in eighth place and close to those around him, he lost the front end of his GSX-RR and tumbled out of the race at Turn 7. He was thankfully uninjured.

After holding a good lead for a run of six laps, with five laps to go Rins slipped to third. Although he initially remained close to the Ducati pair in front of him, a sudden drop-off on the hard rear tyre made it tough for the determined rider to hold off attacks from his rivals. By the chequered flag Alex had slipped to seventh place, taking useful points but understandably disappointed not to have held onto the podium.

Alex Rins:

“I was feeling a bit destroyed when I arrived back in the box, I didn’t really expect this result. During the race I was riding so smoothly and controlling the throttle well, not sliding much, even when I was in the lead. But then, as the race went on, I was struggling a lot with a lack of rear traction. I want to check the situation with the tyre, because I didn’t expect to lose so many positions so quickly. At least I’ve picked up some points here, and I’ll focus on the next race.”

Joan Mir:

“The track temperature today was higher than on the previous days, and I think being in a group meant that I over-heated the front tyre a bit more than I’d have liked – I think that might be the cause of my crash. I tried to get some fresh air around the tyre, but the pack was intense. The feeling in general was quite good, and my pace wasn’t bad, but it can still be improved. I know that I was losing out in some sectors due to lack of grip, so we’ll continue working on the bike and look forward to Austria.”

Livio Suppo – Team Manager:

“This wasn’t the result we were looking for, but there are some positives; both riders got very good starts, especially Alex. When he was leading, we really thought he’d be able to win, because he looked very comfortable and smooth. Unfortunately, he then started to lose grip on the rear tyre. This is something we have to analyse with Michelin – we have seen the data but we need to understand why this happened. Joan was doing a good job and he was ready to attack more, but then he lost the front. However, they were both fast and it shows our package is competitive. On to the next races…”

Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:

“Yesterday we didn’t qualify very well, but we felt very confident about the race pace. We controlled the race well, especially at the mid-point, but unfortunately Joan crashed and shortly afterwards Alex was struggling to keep the pace. He ended up seventh due to the feel of the tyre, which was a pity because we hoped to at least get a podium. However, we confirmed that our performance can be high, and we won’t give up.”

GRAND PRIX OF GREAT BRITAIN RACE RESULTS:

1 Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati Lenovo Team 40’10.260
2 Maverick VIÑALES Aprilia Racing 40’10.686 0.426
3 Jack MILLER Ducati Lenovo Team 40’10.874 0.614
4 Enea BASTIANINI Gresini Racing MotoGP 40’11.911 1.651
5 Jorge MARTIN Prima Pramac Racing 40’12.010 1.750
6 Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 40’12.987 2.727
7 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 40’13.281 3.021
8 Fabio QUARTARARO Monster Energy Yamaha 40’14.079 3.819
9 Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing 40’14.218 3.958
10 Marco BEZZECCHI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 40’16.906 6.646
11 Brad BINDER Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 40’17.990 7.730
12 Luca MARINI Mooney VR46 Racing Team 40’23.699 13.439
13 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 40’23.966 13.706
14 Pol ESPARGARO Repsol Honda Team 40’24.166 13.906
15 Franco MORBIDELLI Monster Energy Yamaha 40’26.619 16.359
16 Andrea DOVIZIOSO WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 40’31.065 20.805
17 Alex MARQUEZ LCR Honda CASTROL 40’31.359 21.099
18 Remy GARDNER Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 40’34.839 24.579
19 Stefan BRADL Repsol Honda Team 40’39.033 28.773
20 Darryn BINDER WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP 40’43.913 33.653
21 Raul FERNANDEZ Tech3 KTM Factory Racing 40’45.861 35.601
22 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO Gresini Racing MotoGP 40’46.720 36.460
Not classified:
36 Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
5 Johann ZARCO Prima Pramac Racing

RIDERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

1 Fabio QUARTARARO 180
2 Aleix ESPARGARO 158
3 Francesco BAGNAIA 131
4 Enea BASTIANINI 118
5 Johann ZARCO 114
6 Jack MILLER 107
7 Brad BINDER 98
8 Alex RINS 84
9 Maverick VIÑALES 82
10 Miguel OLIVEIRA 81
11 Jorge MARTIN 81
12 Joan MIR 77
13 Marco BEZZECCHI 61
14 Marc MARQUEZ 60
15 Luca MARINI 56
16 Takaaki NAKAGAMI 45
17 Pol ESPARGARO 42
18 Alex MARQUEZ 27
19 Franco MORBIDELLI 26
20 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO 18
21 Darryn BINDER 10
22 Andrea DOVIZIOSO 10
23 Remy GARDNER 9
24 Raul FERNANDEZ 5
25 Michele PIRRO 0
26 Stefan BRADL 0
27 Lorenzo SAVADORI 0

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