Alex Rins was left fuming with Takaaki Nakagami after a collision between the pair at the exit of Turn 11 in the Italian Grand Prix left him on the sidelines.
Having struggled for speed in qualifying en-route to a lowly 21st on the grid, the Suzuki rider made one of his customary rapid getaways and was quickly battling for 12th with LCR Honda’s Nakagami, the Spaniard attempting a move on him at Turn 11 half-a-dozen laps into the encounter.
Having failed to make the move stick, Rins tried once again at the same point on the following tour, though the three-time premier class race winner touched with Nakagami under acceleration and lost the front of his GSX-RR – leaving him to record a third-successive non-score as his title hopes begin to dwindle.
Rins was highly critical of Nakagami following the contest stating he “doesn’t understand Nakagami’s way of riding”, while he also took aim at race direction’s decision to not penalise the Japanese ace for the incident.
“I don’t understand his (Nakagami’s) way of riding, already on the previous lap at the 10/11 chicane I overtook him and he remained there and opened up the throttle even more to cut my line (off),” vented Rins.
“So next lap I arrived with a little bit more throttle between the chicane, the middle, and I was in front of him and he stayed on the outside on full gas and when I picked up the bike he touched me.
“He was already outside and he touched me and I fell down, I don’t understand why he’s riding like this and if you ask other riders they say the same.
“I also don’t understand race direction as I was up there talking to Freddie Spencer (MotoGP steward chairman), and I said to him ‘you’re an ex-rider who did a lot of overtakes, and I was in front’ you saw in the final laps (Johann) Zarco did the same with (Marco) Bezzecchi and there was no problem because Bezzecchi is a good rider, if you lose the position you lose it.”
Nakagami – who went on to finish eighth – meanwhile reckons “there’s nothing to say” regarding the touch as he was in front at the time of the collision and that Rins ran out wide into the side of his RC213-V, adding that he will not “change my style” going forward.
“There’s nothing to say because we are racing and of course a lap earlier he came inside at the same corner and I closed the door to save the position, but the next lap he tried again,” said Nakagami.
“This time I was in front of him, and then on the exit of Turn 11 he came out wide and in my opinion he hit me, I couldn’t do anything, I’m racing and I don’t want to let anyone pass so for me this is racing.
“I think it was fair, and of course I’m sorry he crashed but for me it is a racing incident.
“Everyone wants to beat everyone but I think everyone has respect, and unfortunately we touched each other and he crashed, and maybe if I was him maybe I’d have said the exact same because he’s fighting for the championship and he got zero points again for two races in a row, but I won’t change my style.”
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