Alex Rins, who crashed heavily in the 2023 Mugello sprint, makes an impressive comeback with P2 on his return to the track – Fabio Quartararo misses out on direct Q2 entry
The surprise in a positive sense on the MotoGP training day for the 2024 Italian Grand Prix in Mugello was Yamaha, especially Alex Rins.
Rins set the second-fastest time in the important afternoon practice session, which decides the direct allocation to the two qualifying segments. Team-mate Fabio Quartararo was also strong, but just missed out on a direct Q2 place with P11 because he made a mistake on his last flying lap.
P2 is impressive feedback for Alex Rins. A year ago, when he was not yet riding for Yamaha but for LCR Honda, the Spaniard had his serious crash in the sprint of the Mugello weekend, in which he broke his right leg. As a result of the double fracture (tibia and fibula), he ultimately missed more than half of all Grands Prix in the 2023 MotoGP season.
Rins made the decision to switch from LCR Honda to Yamaha in hospital in the summer of 2023. He has been riding for the Japanese factory team since the start of 2024. And now, on his return to the Mugello Circuit of all places, he has put in a strong performance on the M1 for the first time
Alex Rins praises the Yamaha’s fairing in fast corners
“On my last flying lap I was riding alone. I saw that I was in P11 and said to myself: No, not today!” grins Rins. “I gave it my all, 100 percent. The result was an incredible lap time. I’m really very happy, although to be honest the lap wasn’t quite perfect. A few tenths of a second might have been possible, but not many.”
Almost two weeks ago, Yamaha (just like Honda) had tested in Mugello. However, Rins does not want that to be the main reason for his strong performance on Friday. “I set a lap time of 1:45.9 minutes at the test,” he says and compares: “Today I was almost seven tenths of a second faster. Certainly, the test played a small role. But I don’t think there was a big difference apart from the first 15 laps in the morning.”
“We simply worked really well today,” said Rins, praising his Yamaha crew. He, crew chief Patrick Primmer and co. did not let a crash in the morning practice in San Donato (turn 1) put them off their stride. Rins says that he already had a good feeling last weekend in Barcelona and that Friday in Mugello is now building on this: “In Montmelo I was already doing well on a fast lap. Here, I was also really strong on tires that were no longer completely fresh.”
Especially in fast corners, the Yamaha works really well with the current aerodynamics, as Rins points out: “In the fast passages like Arrabbiata 1, Arrabbiata 2, but also turn 12 (Correntaio) and the last corner (Bucine), the aero here suits us. The new fairing helps us to turn into this type of bend with more speed. However, we still have some way to go to get to the front. “
Fabio Quartararo: “Feeling much better than at the test “
While Alex Rins was beaten only by Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia in the classification of Friday afternoon’s practice session, Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo missed out on the top 10 and thus the direct Q2 entry for Saturday by just 0.019 seconds.
On his last flying lap, Quartararo had a front wheel slip in Scarperia (turn 10). Summing up the final phase of the session, he said: “Frustrating. I would have needed a fast rider in front of me to follow. But unfortunately I was all alone. Nevertheless, I was only around a tenth of a second off P3 in the end and only around two tenths of a second off Alex’s time. “
“Alex,” Quartararo continued about his teammate Rins, “was already faster than me at the test here. We now have to analyze why that is. My feeling today was much better than at the test. But the frustrating thing is that I just missed out on Q2 today”.
Directly after the Mugello weekend, testing will take place on the Italian Grand Prix circuit on Monday. However, this is not another test by the manufacturers with concessions (Yamaha and Honda). Instead, it is one of the few official test days in which all MotoGP teams take part
