Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) opened his MotoGP™ career as top rookie in Qatar, but the Suzuki rider then suffered a fracture in his ankle in a motocross training accident before the Gran Premio Motul de la Republica Argentina and went into the weekend fighting through the pain barrier after being passed fit to ride.
Rins made a good start despite the setbacks, before then crashing out later in the race and unable to restart after exacerbating the pain from the injury. Now it’s physio time for the former Moto3™ title contender, as he focuses on Texas.
Not a great day for @suzukimotogp as @Rins42 crashes out. Up & OK????#ArgentinaGP pic.twitter.com/0TxAcqRpT3
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) 9 April 2017
Alex Rins, DNF: “The truth is that it has been a tough weekend. We knew it would be hard due to the injury, and in fact it hurt me for the whole three days, but we wanted to start the race and in the end, we achieved it. Despite jumping from the very back, I’m pretty happy with myself because I managed to stay cool and make an excellent start. During the race I felt pretty comfortable with the ankle, it didn’t hurt too much, but I felt bad with the braking. After some laps in 15th place, I tried to overtake in the only possible corner - the entrance of corner 13, and managed to get into 14th place, but then I lost control of the front end and crashed. It was not a bad crash but I hit my foot and the pain increased, thus not allowing me to finish the race. Now it’s time to look ahead and go to Austin. I like that circuit very much and I hope to recover a lot with some rest and physiotherapy during these days, in order to arrive in Texas in considerably better condition.”