Alex Rins experiences a weekend like in his Suzuki days – strong qualifying and race until the tire breaks down – Fabio Quartararo watched closely
At the halfway point of the race, Rins attacked, overtaking Pedro Acosta’s KTM on lap 19 and moving into second place. Rins had not been on the podium since his victory with LCR Honda in Texas in the spring of 2023. But that dream was shattered.
In the final laps, Rins’ lap times dropped and he was relegated to tenth place at the end of the large chasing group. “It was a shame. We knew before the race that we would have problems with the soft tires.”
“The tire’s performance drop came in the last five laps. I did my best and tried to keep the rear tire under control,“ sighs Rins. ”But until those last five laps, I was in the mix.“
”I’m really happy—not because of the race, but because of the whole weekend. It reminded me a bit of the old days with Suzuki, when I was just having fun. I rode well, defended my position, and was able to overtake.“
”We had a great weekend,” Rins said nonetheless. He secured fourth place on the grid in qualifying. In the sprint, Marc Marquez sent him off the track early on, which meant Rins only finished twelfth on Saturday.
Overall, the Spaniard was the fastest Yamaha rider in Indonesia. “Yes, I never stopped believing in myself. There are some people around me who stopped believing in me—they had doubts and lost faith.”
“It’s hard when people stop believing in you. And you stand there, fighting and giving it your all,“ said Rins. ”But I myself never stopped believing that I could do it. Sure, it’s only one weekend, but now we’re off to Australia. Let’s see what happens there.”
Quartararo was initially surprised by Rins
Teammate Fabio Quartararo crashed in the sprint on the last lap while riding in twelfth place. He was already very sober on Saturday. “No, I haven’t learned anything, and there’s nothing positive at the moment,” said the former world champion.
“I don’t feel comfortable with either the front or rear tires. The bike reacts quite unpredictably with the tires. I’m just trying to understand how I can make it work—but it’s quite complicated.”
It was clear to Quartararo that he too would have to contest the Grand Prix with the soft rear tire, as the medium tire didn’t work for him. He was the only rider in the field to opt for the hard front tire and ultimately finished seventh. “I had to choose different tires: hard at the front, soft at the rear. That was the only combination I felt reasonably comfortable with,” Quartararo confirmed. “It was difficult because we had to pay close attention to the rear tire.”
“And what made it particularly difficult was that I couldn’t overtake anyone – mainly because they just pulled away out of the corners. But I think I rode pretty well and was clever with the rear tire.”
And in the end, Quartararo managed his tires better than Rins: “I was two or three laps behind him and couldn’t overtake. Then I saved my tires a little while he pulled away at the front.“
”I thought to myself: I don’t know if he’ll make it to the end with that, but I had to keep my tires fresh. With seven laps to go, I saw that he was still in second place. Then I thought: Maybe I’ve been a little too cautious.”
“But the basic problem is: when the tire wears out, it’s just gone. And that’s exactly what happened to him.” So, in the end, Quartararo was the best Yamaha rider, even though he was never at the front of the chasing pack.
Was Rins’ strong performance at times mainly due to the track? “Only on this track,” believes Quartararo. “But above all, the way he pushed: Raul and Marini went far, so I could only overtake Marini, but he caught both of them.”
“He was also strong against Acosta. But you can clearly see that the engine power is on another level. I was really impressed with how Alex rode this weekend. For me, it was one of my worst weekends in terms of feeling, but he was super, super fast.“
”It was interesting to see his data and think about where I can improve. I’m curious to see how he will ride in Australia and Malaysia—also Miguel and Jack, because it was a really strange weekend. But I think we made the best of it.”
In the manufacturers’ standings, Yamaha remains cemented in last place. Honda already has a 46-point lead.
