First Alex Rins’ bike catches fire, then Joan Mir fails to make it into Q2: Suzuki doesn’t get off the mark on the second day of MotoGP in Mandalika
For Suzuki, qualifying day at Mandalika once again did not go as planned. After Joan Mir and Alex Rins had already struggled with the tyres on Friday, the hoped-for progress failed to materialise. Instead, Rins caused a real scare moment in the fourth free practice session: His Suzuki caught fire.
“There was a problem with the hose through which the oil flows. They have already checked it,” the Spaniard explains in retrospect. It wasn’t clear to him at first what was happening.
“I already had a slide at the rear in turn 10. Then I looked at my boots, at the tyres, but everything seemed to be under control,” said Rins, describing the signs. “So I kept pushing and in the very next corner I had another moment. I went off the track to be on the safe side. “
Rins: “It was a scary moment “
When he then looked down at his bike, he saw flames coming out of the fairing. “It was a scary moment and I just thought, ‘Alex, jump!’ Because maybe the bike will explode. So it was not a good moment.”
The Suzuki rider dropped the bike in the run-off zone of turn 13 and pulled himself to safety. Practice was then red-flagged to allow the bike to be extinguished and oil to be used to clean the contaminated track.
Later in qualifying, Rins was unable to go beyond eighth place. “Not a good position,” judged the Spaniard, who felt better after Friday’s physical ailments, but still not one hundred percent fit. Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, he is particularly concerned about the durability of the tyres.
“We have to take good care of the tyres because we are at the limit with the front tyre. The hardest compound is too hard for us,” Rins noted. It might be difficult to catch up: “Let’s see if we can overtake, because there is practically only one line. “
Mir sees himself in constant danger of crashing
Team-mate Mir has even more riders ahead of him than Rins, for that matter. That’s because the 2020 World Champion didn’t get past Q1 and 18th on the grid at Mandalika. “It was a really, really tough day for us. We were not able to find a better setting that I feel more comfortable with,” he explained.
“I find myself in danger of crashing in every corner and have critical moments everywhere. The balance we have at the moment is not good. That makes it difficult. And the more I try to adapt to the problems, the more problems arise. “
So Mir was found off the track several times, even though he managed to avoid a crash. “I’m really riding at the limit. We are just not strong and we have to keep trying things to improve,” mused the Spaniard.
He is particularly worried about the harder casing on the rear wheel. After the Mandalika test, Michelin upgraded to make sure the tyres would last a race distance.
Is it really just the carcass?
“We knew beforehand that we wouldn’t be able to do many laps on this track and that we wouldn’t be able to find the perfect pace yet – but with the other tyres. These tyres don’t help my style and setting. Still, I’m confident that my team will give me a good bike for the race.”
“If we don’t improve, it will be tough,” Mir knows and admits, “Then it will be difficult to finish the race at all. I am afraid that I will crash. Because I’m way too much on the limit in every corner. Mistakes happen easily. “
Whether his problems are solely due to the harder casing, however, the Spaniard cannot say definitively. “I don’t know if it’s just the new casing or the track. Already in Qatar I complained about too little grip. With this tyre we have even less grip, and everywhere.”
“I can’t turn into the corners at the right speed and I have to use the front tyre a lot. That leads to these critical moments. We’ve lost our balance and we need to find our way again.” Mir plans to use the warm-up session on Sunday morning to do just that.
“The warm-up will be extremely important for us. We know we can’t conjure up the perfect bike in this one session. But if I can just get the feeling back a little bit, we can have a good race.”
“I think the tyres will degrade a lot – and the lap times accordingly. This could be an opportunity for us if we can find the grip to keep the pace. “
