Alex Rins says that he had ‘planned’ to overtake Marc Marquez for the win in the British Grand Prix prior to the encounter.
Rins managed to undercut Marquez as the Honda slid wide through the final corner of Woodcote on the final lap to secure his second career victory, his and Suzuki’s second of the season.
The Spaniard was Marquez’s only real challenger for the Silverstone win following the fiery first lap crash early on that eliminated Fabio Quartararo, who had topped three of the four practice sessions held on the run up to the race.
The anticipated factory Yamaha push also failed to materialise as Valentino Rossi struggled for speed while Maverick Vinales only got to slipstream range on the final tour.
Rins wasn’t expected to be a threat in the race having not shown race-winning speed at any point during the weekend, the Suzuki ace even having to contest Q1 on his way to fifth on the grid.
He then pushed Marquez throughout the contest, overtaking him several times before out-smarting the Honda at the final corner to snatch victory by just 0.013.
“I planned it yes,” explained Rins.
“It was in the first and second sectors where I was stronger than Marc, I struggled in the final two and I made a mistake two laps from the end as I tried to overtake Marquez around the outside because I thought it was the last lap.
“So when I saw it wasn’t I just said ‘push, push’, and for that final move I had planned it. I knew I was fast there, it’s just unbelievable.”
Rins revealed that he had purposely tried to remain behind Marquez for most of the race so as to not alert him to where he felt his GSX-RR was stronger.
“In the middle of the race he lifted off the throttle and I went in front of him, so I said to myself ‘Alex, keep your secrets with you’ and then he passed me again, it was a spectacular race.
“I looked behind to see where Vinales was and noticed he was closer than I expected, and then the tyre went a bit light through the chicane and I lost a bit of time so I said I need to push until the end.
“It’s unbelievable, I beat two legends in Marc and Valentino, and it’s incredible for me.”
Rins’ win sees him move past Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci into third in the MotoGP rider’s standings, while he closes to just 23 points behind Dovizioso following his retirement.
Discussion about this post