MOTO GP

Rins puts suzuki at the top of Phillip Island. Quartararo loses the lead

Victory in Australia. “The truth is that I am happy, because the pace that we have shown during the weekend has been the pace that we had to do to finish winning. What I mean by this? In the end it's very good with the medium tire, with the hard tire do 28 medium, 28 high, but then you don't reach the end of the race. It is true that it was a slow race but it was necessary to have that extra grip at the end of the race”.

Did you imagine fighting for victory? “Well, starting tenth is not easy, I didn't think I was going to be able to fight for the race, even in my mind a good goal was to finish top five, top six. But when I felt comfortable there, I saw that when I wanted to, in quotes, I pushed a little harder to pass someone in turn 2 and the tire responded well and didn't consume much, I thought "why not?". I have decided to always be in the front positions, because if not behind they start to overtake and it is all the more not more dangerous but more demanding for the tyres. The truth is that we have done it. It has not been easy. From the outside it was a fun race, from the inside not so much, I'm not going to lie to you. But we have succeeded."

Goodbye Suzuki. “The truth is that it is a real shame that next year Suzuki will not continue in the championship but, in the end, if they have made the decision it will be for something, and we have to respect it. I feel bad for the people who haven't been able to find anything for next year, which aren't many, but there are a few, three or four people. But better to finish in style than not”.

The last turn. “I had good grip, I had good traction, but there are three or four overtaking points, there are no more, and if Marc had overtaken me it would have been very difficult for me to pass him at the finish line. Yes, it is true that when I saw the possibility of overtaking Pecco I did it, I did not think about it, and from then on, I am honest, I closed all the doors that I could, turn 2 I made it slow for inside so that Marc wouldn't pass me, because he had passed me there a couple of times, turn 4 I did it in the middle of the track more to the right, so as not to give an option, and turn 10 the same, I played it there inside late braking. I knew that coming out of turn 10, I don't know why, but it was difficult for me to turn the bike, I lost a little bit of time there, but what I lost there I made up for coming out of turn 11 and 12”.

Special win. “It is very difficult to take a victory and make a classification, top 1, top 2, top 3, because in the end they are all special. This one is special, for sure. This has been one of the hardest fought. It is true that the one in Aragón was not a hard fight, I was first from the start. This has been great, but more to achieve it in the situation we are in”.

by Chechu Lazarus