RiderTua.com – After failing to hold a test in Portimao due to bad weather and then COTA being a miserable weekend for Yamaha, Alex Rins said that Cal Crutchlow’s test at the upcoming Barcelona will be important.
As winner of last year’s American GP (for LCR Honda), Rins only occupies 15th place on the grid for Yamaha this season. The Spaniard then finished 16th in the sprint, just behind teammate Fabio Quartararo. In Sunday’s race, he crashed out in 17th when a betting set-up backfired.
Alex Rins hopes a lot from Cal Crutchlow’s test in Barcelona
After only being able to outperform 4 Honda riders in Friday practice, Yamaha opted to use the remainder of the weekend at COTA to experiment with its set-up in the hope of aiding future development. However, the fact is that Alex Rins failed to finish the race while Quartararo crossed the finish line in 12th position, 13 seconds behind the record time for the 2023 COTA race (at that time he finished 3rd).
Rins explains that they are gathering information. He just raced and gave his best. There is an important test that Cal Crutchlow will carry out in the next few days in Barcelona.
Yamaha is said to be bringing ‘something’ and could it help the team to improve the bike? Rims feels his team is still far from being competitive but they have to keep working. He is confident in this project. There were only a few races where Rins found it difficult, but then the team would be competitive again, emphasized the former Suzuki rider.
Rins said that he hoped to be able to do a trial with Crutchlow in Catalunya – Barcelona but logistically it was very difficult and impossible. “His team plans to test at Montmelo to practice with Crutchlow, but their bike will not get there on time… too close to time,” said the 27-year-old Spanish rider.
Therefore, Rins had to wait until the official MotoGP test at Jerez, which was held on Monday 29 April right after the Spanish GP weekend race.
BTW, thanks to the new concession rules, this means that Yamaha, like Honda, can freely replace all parts of its MotoGP bikes throughout the season.
