Team Suzuki Press Office – September 15.
Joan Mir: 8th (+ 22.512)
Alex Rins: DNF
• Joan Mir has successful comeback with 8th place.
• Alex Rins takes a spill while aiming for Top 6 finish.
• Contrasting emotions for Team following Silverstone success.
San Marino played host to the 13th round of the 2019 MotoGP Championship in front of a crowd just shy of 100,000 people.
Following a decent morning Warm-Up session, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders both opted for the medium-medium tyre combination for the hot 27 lap race. Alex Rins tried to get a good launch off the line, and he slotted into 6th place, while Joan Mir was a few places further back in 9th.
As the lead riders began to make a break at the front, Rins tried hard to get past the KTM of Pol Espargaro, making a small mistake as he did so and dropping a couple of positions. With a small group of riders stacked up behind the KTM, Rins knew he had to make a move and was preparing to do so when he was issued with a long lap penalty. Just seconds later, before he could take the penalty, the Spaniard crashed going into Turn 4. A disappointing blow for the British GP winner, although he was thankfully uninjured.
Meanwhile, Mir enjoyed a steady return to racing. The young rookie was sitting in the Top 10 for the entire race, he fought to pick up a position on the last few laps and reached the chequered flag in a good 8th place. An important result following his debilitating injury.
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager:
“It was a tough race for Alex, and he wasn’t really able to show his capabilities here. We need to check exactly what happened today, and then look ahead and start preparing for the next race, which is next weekend in Aragon. We hope he can be strong again there. Joan did a really good job today, and he made a nice comeback, we’re really pleased for him. Although we’re satisfied with Joan’s position, we hope both riders will do better in Spain next weekend.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager:
“Joan did a good job today, we wanted a solid and steady race for him as a comeback, and he achieved that. He qualified well and converted it into a nice 8th place, with good race pace. We want to use this as a starting point for getting more good results with him and building on his success and experience before the end of the season. It was a pity for Alex today, he crashed, and he suffered with the front end a bit. This is racing sometimes and there’s nothing we can do about it. We’re just looking forward to Aragon where we hope to do really well.”
Joan Mir:
“My goal today was to finish the race with a good feeling, after my recovery and the time off the bike. I didn’t feel completely comfortable with my bike settings this weekend, but we worked hard, and we were able to close the gap to the others a bit. In the end, 8th isn’t a bad result especially given that this track hasn’t really suited us. It feels good to be back, and I’m really looking forward to next weekend – Aragon is one of my favourite circuits!”
Alex Rins:
“It was a bad day in the office for us because of the crash. I suffered a bit during the whole weekend, everyone struggled a bit because the track wasn’t very grippy. At the start I made up some places, but then I couldn’t get past Pol for many laps because he is a very hard braker and the KTM had a strong acceleration. After I passed him I tried to enter corner 4 smoothly to keep a good cornering speed but for this reason unfortunately I lost the front. It was a shame, because I lost some points. But I’m really pleased that Aragon is coming up very soon, I like it there and last year I had a good result.”
GP of San Marino – Race Classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 42’25.163
2. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT +0.903
3. Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +1.636
4. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +12.660
5. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT +12.774
6. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team +13.744
7. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +20.050
8. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +22.512
9. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing +26.554
10. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team +31.456
11. Johann ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +32.388
12. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +34.477
13. Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing +35.325
14. Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team +47.247
15. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 +1’02.280
16. Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 +1’07.831
17. Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing +1’24.666
18. Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU 1 Lap
Not Classified
35 Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL
51 Michele PIRRO Ducati Team
42 Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR
63 Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing
MotoGP World Championship Standings:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 275
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 182
3. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 151
4. Alex RINS Suzuki 149
5. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 134
6. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 129
7. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 112
8. Jack MILLER Ducati 101
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 88
10. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 80
11. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 77
12. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 62
13. Joan MIR Suzuki 47
14. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 37
15. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 29
16. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia 27
17. Johann ZARCO KTM 27
18. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 26
19. Jorge LORENZO Honda 23
20. Tito RABAT Ducati 17
21. Stefan BRADL Honda 16
22. Michele PIRRO Ducati 9
23. Sylvain GUINTOLI Suzuki 7
24. Hafizh SYAHRIN KTM 7
25. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati 5
26. Bradley SMITH Aprilia
