Rins dedicates win to departing Suzuki, overtakes with Marquez ‘on the limit’

After a race-long battle with Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, Rins took his fourth MotoGP win and first for two years. 

On a day where the MotoGP title race was majorly affected following Fabio Quartararo’s surprise DNF and Aleix Espargaro delivering a poor performance, thus leading to Bagnaia leading the MotoGP standings by 14 points, Rins kept his cool to complete a hat-trick of wins at Phillip Island, including one in every class.  

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"I’m super happy to finish on the first position. First of all it will be the last time with the Suzuki here at the Island," said Rins. 

"I’m blessed that I got the first position for this and then for all the people that were supporting me during all the season, during all the bad moments. The team really deserves [this win] and all the staff in Hamamatsu. 

"It was a good race. I was feeling good since the beginning and I managed really well the rear tyre. When I was behind Pecco or in the beginning behind Martin, I was realising that they were riding a little bit too slow so I tried to stay on the front. 

"I tried to open a small gap but taking care of the rear tyre without the spin. But then they overtook me on the straight so I decided to stay behind and arrive in the end of the race with a bit more. 

"I was knowing that if I was starting the last lap in the second position that I would have some chances to overtake Pecco between corner one and two." 

That’s exactly what Rins did as he swept around the outside of Bagnaia on the exit of turn one, which then led to the inside line for turn two.

A move which allowed Marquez to benefit and squeeze past the new championship leader, Rins then had to hold off Marquez for the win.

The two Spaniards weren’t shy in being aggressive throughout the race when overtaking each other, which Rins touched upon about after the race.  

Rins said: "We respect each other. All the overtakes were on the limit but in a good way.

"The pace was slow but you needed to do it. In this case, when Martin was in front or Pecco, they were taking care of the tyres to arrive in the maximum potential at the end of the race. But ask to the other riders why they didn’t finish on the top. 

"It was a slow pace but you needed to do it. This victory is one of the best ones."

Rins ‘sad’ that Suzuki is leaving MotoGP

While the four-time premier class race winner has a move to Honda to look forward to in 2023, performances like this for Suzuki - a team he was on the verge of re-signing for before it's shock announcement that it would be calling time on their participation in MotoGP, has left Rins feeling somewhat ‘sad’  

"It’s a good thing [to go out with a win]. We really deserve it and in many races we know our weak point which is the qualy," stated Rins. 

"I’ve been in MotoGP since 2017 and this is the fourth or fifth competitive year for me but Suzuki, myself, we were never able to make a good bike for one lap. 

"We struggled to do it but in some races we had unbelievable pace and were forced to finish in fifth position, sixth position for this reason. The victory was quite nice. It’s sad that Suzuki is leaving but let’s leave with the victory."