Yamaha has vocalised its support for Alex Rins, stating “we know what he is capable of” as he endured one of the worst seasons of his MotoGP career in 2024.
Rins finished his first season with Yamaha in 2024 after spending one year with Honda, and he is still the Japanese marque’s last MotoGP winner after winning in Texas in 2023.
The six-time race winner previously spent his whole premier class career at Suzuki before the Japanese marque opted to leave the sport unprompted.
Rins’ 2024 campaign saw him finish 18th in the final classification list after finishing the year with his lowest point total in MotoGP, with 31 points on the board.
However, the Spaniard has been struggling with several knocks, including a leg injury sustained in 2023 before suffering a broken wrist at Assen.
As a result, this has further hindered his adjustment to the M1, but Yamaha team boss Massimo Meregalli vocalised his support for Rins following his difficult campaign.
“He arrived at a moment where he was, for sure, not 100%,” Meregalli told MotoGP.com.
“Then he had ups and downs, he had another accident in Assen where he broke his wrist.
“For me, he never been in a condition where he really could push at his 100% even if he always tried.
“Since two races ago [at the end of the season], also he started getting closer and for us it’s very important because, first of all, we know what he is capable of.
“But, you know, being alone and fighting with all the others that have more riders on track is a big disadvantage,” Meregalli added.
“So, when Alex is in a good shape we have at least two riders with which we can evaluate the information.
“And for me, this will be very important next year when we will have four riders. This will give us some important benefits.”
Rins’ campaign a ‘progression’ and ‘special’
Rins finished inside the top ten on two occasions throughout the season, as he crossed the line ninth and eighth at Aragon and Sepang, respectively.
The 29-year-old summarised his year by drawing comparisons to where he was 12 months ago considering he was adapting to a brand-new bike for the second year in a row.
“When your bike is not at 100% compared to the other ones, this is even more difficult. So, I’m happy with my progression and I think Yamaha is too,” he told Crash.net.
“Not easy, but always special because you look back, you look on the progression and how the season was, from the first race, for the first time I jumped on the Yamaha,” he added.
“And for sure it was a season with many ups and downs.”
Despite results not being up to the standard Yamaha and Rins himself expected, the Spaniard believed he had contributed well to improving the bike.
“If I need to say if I’m happy or not with my progression, with my work that I did in Yamaha, I’m quite happy because I was able to improve the bike.
“I was able to bring my experience, they heard me and we are working together in a good way.
“The progression and the adaptation on the bike was quite good, quite fast.
“Then in the middle of the season, I was struggling because I was injured in Assen,” he added.
“And then this one takes away some confidence. It took me some races to stay on my full level. But I’m so happy for how I improved the bike.”
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