Team Suzuki Press Office – May 19.
Alex Rins: 10th (+ 13.709)
Joan Mir: 16th (+ 1 lap)
• Alex Rins limits the damage with 10th place.
• Joan Mir’s misfortune continues with warm-up lap crash.
• Team SUZUKI ECSTAR ready to return at Mugello.
A tumultuous weekend for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR in France saw Joan Mir struggle against conditions and crashes, while Alex Rins had to fight hard to try and defend his championship position.
A chilly but dry Le Mans circuit greeted the riders for the 5th round of the season, but there was drama before the lights went out as Joan Mir fell victim to a crash on the warm-up lap, the youngster lost the front following a crash from Abraham in front of him. Mir returned to the pits quickly and was able to start the GP with his second bike from pit lane, after the rest of the field had left the start line.
A disappointing conclusion for Joan, finishing 16th, he had been gaining useful information and experience throughout the weekend with his GSX-RR on this technical track in the wet.
On the other hand, Rins was able to limit the damage of his 19th place qualifying position. The Spaniard had a steady start to the 27-lap race, but he chipped away and maintained his focus. After passing some riders he settled into a strong and defensive rhythm and he crossed the line in 10th place. He slips to 3rd in the championship but feels confident coming into Round 6 in Mugello.
Ken Kawauchi – Technical Manager
“This weekend has been hard for both Suzuki riders. Alex worked well to recover positions from a bad grid spot, and he took 10th. Joan was unlucky on the warm-up lap and it was a troublesome weekend for him. We struggled here a lot and now we need to look into why that was and try to make some improvements for the next race.”
Davide Brivio – Team Manager
“It’s been a difficult weekend, but we managed to take some decent points away from it, and this has allowed us to stay in the top three in the championship. Joan had a tough day, he had to start from pit lane after he crashed following another rider, so of course his race was compromised. However, he still gained experience today. Sometimes race weekends don’t go as you hope, and that’s normal. We’re glad that Alex was able to take tenth place and we’ll keep up our positivity heading into the next race.”
Alex Rins
“It was a difficult weekend, qualifying went badly with the strategy and everything. Honestly, I was hoping for more out of this weekend. I started today’s race feeling very hopeful but in the end I had to manage some struggles, especially in corner entry and I could only manage 10th place. Those six points are important, especially as it was easy to crash today – we saw many crashes in all three races. There are still a lot of rounds to go, I’m ready for Mugello.”
Joan Mir
“What happened on the warm-up lap was a shame. I think the tyre was cold, I didn’t brake too hard or too early, but I lost the front. I crashed four times this weekend and we have to look into why that happened. I don’t feel that I over-pushed at any time, but when I can figure out why I crashed I can hopefully learn something from it. I’ll look forward to the Italian GP which is coming next.”
GP of France – Race Classification:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Repsol Honda Team 41’53.647
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati Team +1.984
3. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati Team +2.142
4. Jack MILLER Pramac Racing +2.940
5. Valentino ROSSI Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP +3.053
6. Pol ESPARGARO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +5.935
7. Franco MORBIDELLI Petronas Yamaha SRT +7.187
8. Fabio QUARTARARO Petronas Yamaha SRT +8.439
9. Cal CRUTCHLOW LCR Honda CASTROL +9.853
10. Alex RINS Team SUZUKI ECSTAR +13.709
11. Jorge LORENZO Repsol Honda Team +15.003
12. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia Racing Team Gresini +29.512
13. Johann ZARCO Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +33.061
14. Hafizh SYAHRIN Red Bull KTM Tech 3 +35.481
15. Miguel OLIVEIRA Red Bull KTM Tech 3 +36.044
16. Joan MIR Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1 Lap
Not Classified
30 Takaaki NAKAGAMI LCR Honda IDEMITSU
29 Andrea IANNONE Aprilia Racing Team Gresini
12 Maverick VIÑALES Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
63 Francesco BAGNAIA Pramac Racing
53 Tito RABAT Reale Avintia Racing
Excluded
17 Karel ABRAHAM Reale Avintia Racing
MotoGP Championship Standings:
1. Marc MARQUEZ Honda 95
2. Andrea DOVIZIOSO Ducati 87
3. Alex RINS Suzuki 75
4. Valentino ROSSI Yamaha 72
5. Danilo PETRUCCI Ducati 57
6. Jack MILLER Ducati 42
7. Cal CRUTCHLOW Honda 34
8. Franco MORBIDELLI Yamaha 34
9. Pol ESPARGARO KTM 31
10. Maverick VIÑALES Yamaha 30
11. Takaaki NAKAGAMI Honda 29
12. Fabio QUARTARARO Yamaha 25
13. Aleix ESPARGARO Aprilia 22
14. Jorge LORENZO Honda 16
15. Johann ZARCO KTM 10
16. Francesco BAGNAIA Ducati 9
17. Joan MIR Suzuki 8
18. Miguel OLIVEIRA KTM 8
19. Stefan BRADL Honda 6
20. Andrea IANNONE Aprilia 6
21. Hafizh SYAHRIN KTM 2
22. Tito RABAT Ducati 2
23. Karel ABRAHAM Ducati
24. Bradley SMITH Aprilia
