Rins: Suzuki going in the right way

Casting an eye over his current package, Alex Rins is sure he and Suzuki “can do some good things” in 2019 after the Spaniard ended the season’s first day of MotoGP testing with the second fastest time.

Rins tried a variety of new parts aimed at turning the former Moto2 and Moto3 runner up into a MotoGP race winner, and feels the acceleration of Suzuki’s ’19 spec GSX-RR has improved when compared to its predecessor.

Outright top speed, he said, was still lacking, but Rins appeared more than pleased with his consistency with used rubber. The 23-year-old claims to have posted three race-length runs on different rear tires.

He wasn’t “the fastest,” he admitted – but was among “the top three.” That, coupled with team boss Davide Brivio’s comments they had already decided on their 2019 engine, suggests Rins was justified in saying the factory is “going in the right way.”

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“I think it was a positive test,” said Rins, 0.259s back of pace setter Marc Marquez. “We tried the 2019 bike. For sure we need to improve some things, but the first impressions were very good. I did the time on the 2019 bike.

“Still from Suzuki, they bring a lot of new parts, we didn’t try everything today. For tomorrow we will try a new fairing, and I don’t know if this week or in Qatar, we will try a new exhaust. So I’m quite happy because they worked hard this winter.

“I think our race pace was quite good. We used three tyres, one medium and two softs, with race distance on every tyre, and I think we are going in the right way – [we’re] not the fastest on the race pace, but in the top three.

“[There is] A lot of potential, yes. I think we can do some good things this season. Because the bike is going good. With what we tried today, we improved a little bit from last year.”

Pressed on the positives of the ’19 machine, Rins stated, “More or less in the acceleration area, but I’m very happy with the things we improved. I think the weakest point was the top speed. Top speed, braking area… The bike is working well in the braking area, but I want to feel more comfortable.”

And his aims for the year ahead? “For sure improve the results from last year, the fifth position. And we need to be very constant. We saw the first six races, I did very low points. So if we finish races, if we are in the top five, top four, we will do a good season.”