Marini on Rins’ mind games jibe: “You always steal something from other riders”

Rins, who won the MotoGP Grand Prix of America, responded to a series of in-depth questions from second-place Marini by saying: “You’re worse than your brother, man!”

Mooney VR46 rider Marini was on the MotoGP podium for the first time in Texas and, with teammate Marco Bezzecchi leading the MotoGP standings after three rounds, he has vowed to soon win a race himself.

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Marini told Sky about being likened to his brother by Rins: "Me as Rossi? I've never met Vale in that capacity.

“But from his stories and from what people who worked with him tell me, I know he asked a lot of questions. 

“Let's say it's interesting, there you always have to steal something from the other riders..."

Marini said about the high-flying VR46 quartet in the premier class: "We are a good group, we have fun and we encourage each other every day. 

“Let's hope we can go on like this for many years."

Marini wants to follow Bezzecchi as a first-time MotoGP race winner: "In the meantime, it will be important to reconfirm and fight for the positions that also count at Jerez and Le Mans. 

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“The goal is to fight for the win. Austin was a great weekend but I would like that the others were also on the same level.

"Right now the team is doing an excellent job, thanks to them I have an important technical package that allows me to have fun on the bike.

“And then I have grown a lot, I feel stronger than last year.”

Marini heads into this weekend’s Spanish MotoGP in the best form of his premier class career to date.

"Last year was a complicated weekend, but it was also in Austin,” he said. 

“This year I'm not sure what to expect: Jerez is a very different track from Austin, qualifying counts a lot and it will be essential to start well in both races to achieve the best possible result. 

“All the riders will give something extra to be in Q2 right away and then it will be an extreme qualifying: I think it will be essential to qualify in the top four.”