After beating Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) to claim a maiden MotoGP™ win at the Americas GP earlier this year, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins picked off another multiple World Champion to take a sensation GoPro British Grand Prix victory.
Championship leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was Rins’ latest victim. The famous Woodcote corner was the location for a Rins masterpiece as he powered his GSX-RR past Marquez to take the chequered flag by a slender 0.013 – the joint-fourth closest finish in premier class history.
“Unbelievable, unbelievable! I’ve beaten two legends: Valentino in Texas, Marquez here in Silverstone. It was so crazy,” explained an ecstatic Rins after the race. Two wins in 2019 have confirmed that the Spaniard and his Hamamatsu factory are capable of race wins. Now, it needs to become a regular occurrence if they are to challenge Marquez for the Championship crown in the future.
“I beat him today but now I need to continue; I know it will be difficult. I made some mistakes, I nearly crashed at the first corner – I had a big moment. Two laps to the end I crossed the line very close to Marc and I thought the race was over but then I saw one lap remaining and thought: ‘wow, Alex, come on you need to keep pushing’. I was able to cut a lot of time in the first and second sectors and then in the last sector Marc was much stronger than me. Into Turn 16 he was able to break really hard. The last lap was unique though and it was possible for me to overtake.
“I have a lot of confidence with my Suzuki right now. We work so hard during the practices to get the feeling right and I was able to play with my bike to brake harder. The last two crashes we had at Assen and the Sachsenring I was fighting at the top, we had a lot of confidence. Today I was comfortable behind Marc.”
Comfortable behind Marc, jubilant in front of him. Rins was sensational on Sunday at Silverstone, but can he shine once again at the San Marino GP? He and Suzuki have found the sweet taste of winning, so at least one more before the season is out would go down a treat.