Alex Rins 9th and Joan Mir 14th in difficult Aragon GP

After a strong morning Warm-Up session for both Team SUZUKI ECSTAR’s riders, the Team were feeling positive for the 14th race of the season at Motorland Aragon.

Lining up on the grid with the medium-hard tyre combination, the tension was running high for the whole field as clouds closed in and the threat of rain increased.

Joan Mir and Alex Rins launched off the line and were together in the first corners of the 23-lap race. Rins was then involved in an incident with Franco Morbidelli at Turn 12 which saw the Italian crash, and sent Rins into the gravel trap, rejoining in 19th place. Rins then began to recoup his lost positions and was in 12th when Race Direction decided to hand him a long lap penalty for his involvement in Morbidelli’s crash.

The Spaniard promptly took the penalty loop and didn’t lose any further positions thanks to the buffer he had built up. He then began a battle with four riders for 9th place and put in several passes but struggled to hold position, in part due to the damage sustained to the aero package on his GSX-RR on the first lap. Rins was determined to finish well and he fiercely held on to 9th place before the chequered flag, regaining 3rd place in the championship standings.

Mir had been enjoying a strong weekend at one of his favourite circuits, but he struggled to find a good feeling under braking, and this resulted in a tough first part of the race for him. He then settled into a strong pace but incurred some contact from other riders – also reporting damages to his GSX-RR. His struggles continued until the end of the race, where he finished in 14th place.

Alex Rins:
“First of all, I want to say sorry to Franky for what happened. I went to see him directly after the race to apologise. It was a difficult day, I had a long lap penalty, which I completely accept, but I then I had to try and fight back through the pack. Anyway, 9th position isn’t too bad given everything that happened during the race. I need to try and improve my qualifying, let’s see what happens in Thailand.”

Joan Mir:
“The race didn’t work out how I expected at all, and I’m really disappointed about it. On the first laps I went wide several times and I sustained some damage to my bike. I kept trying to recover positions throughout the race and although I took points, this wasn’t the race that we were expecting, and it’s not the result I hoped for. I’m really hoping that Thailand will be better for us, I want to finish well there.”