The MotoGP™ World Championship moves directly onto Catalunya this weekend following a highly emotional Italian Grand Prix on Sunday 30th May which was marked by the tragic loss of Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier.

Mugello saw a welcome return to the podium for Joan Mir, who managed his race very well to achieve third place. But it was a different story for Alex Rins when he crashed out of podium contention and had to accept another DNF. Team Suzuki Ecstar are ready to continue working to achieve a double podium, and where better than the riders’ home race? After all, last year Mir took a great second place at the Catalan circuit and Rins brought home third, making for an excellent GP for the Suzuki squad.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is one of the most iconic on the calendar, having featured for the last 26 years. Like many European tracks it has a good mixture of tight hairpins, quick straights, and sweeping corners, making it one of the most physically demanding of the year. Set in Montmeló, not far from the beautiful city of Barcelona, it is also a home race for many of the championship’s Spanish riders.

Curiosity - GP of Catalunya: When sliding the bike at Turn 4 the telemetry indicates the speed difference between the front and rear tyre is about 80km/h for as much as 3 or 4 seconds.


Shinichi Sahara - Project Leader & Team Director:

“Mugello was a hard weekend for everyone in the paddock, and although we’re glad that Joan was able to get a great third place, we are keen to get our focus onto this coming race weekend. Montmeló can be a very good circuit for us, especially as we achieved a very nice double podium here with our riders last year. It seems that our GSX-RR works well around this technical layout, but everything is very close in MotoGP lately and of course we will need to be well prepared and working hard from Friday onwards.”

Joan Mir:

“I’m looking forward to this race especially because it’s basically my home GP - I’m from Mallorca but Montmeló is the closest I can get to home turf! I really like the track and I enjoy riding here because you always get that special feeling with your home race. Usually I’m pretty quick around this circuit, so I’m ready to get going on Friday and see how the bike is working, I want to have good pace from FP1 onwards. The track is unusual in the sense that it has a bit of everything, it’s a “complete” track. And in that way you need to have everything working perfectly - set up for hard braking, for top speed, it’s another level. Aside from that, you’re always touching your shoulder on the ground! It’s exciting to ride.”

Alex Rins:

“After four zero-point scores in a row, the positive thing is that we’re able to get straight back on the bike and try again. First of all I need to fully understand what’s been happening with these front end crashes, then I need to see how my feeling and pace are. In Mugello I actually had good speed and I felt very strong, so I hope that it will be the same here in Montmeló. I want to work hard with the team and I really want to finish the race and put the bad results behind me. The track in general suits us pretty well, although we have a slightly different layout this year. It’s also nice to ride in Spain again, close to where I live, and it’s always a pleasure to ride this track in particular because I’ve been riding it since I was a very young kid so I am really familiar with it.”

INJURED ALEX RINS OUT OF CATALAN GP

Alex Rins has been ruled out of his home GP after a cycling accident. The Team Suzuki Ecstar rider will unfortunately have to sit out the Grand Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya due to an unfortunate accident he suffered while training this morning with his bicycle on track.

The Spaniard fell during a training lap and as a result he suffered damage to his right arm, with a large contused area and a lot of pain. He was quickly taken to Barcelona’s Universitari Dexeus Hospital for further examination and medical checks revealed a fracture in the radius bone. The fracture was immobilised and tomorrow morning Rins will undergo surgery to fix it.

Furthermore, he also had a cranial impact during the crash so he was checked with a CT Scan upon his arrival in hospital - the test revealed nothing of concern.

Doctor Xavier Mir, Director of the Hand Surgery and Microsurgery Unit in the Department of Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery at the Universitari Dexeus Hospital reported:

“Alex Rins has suffered an articular fracture of the right distal radius with a small displacement and high inflammation. We have two options; one is to immobilise the fracture with plaster, but the recovery would take around 4-6 weeks. Or, as an alternative, we propose an operation, which we consider is the best option. Tomorrow morning we will intervene and affix two screws to the injured bone”.

Rins will stay overnight in the hospital and tomorrow he will undergo surgery. It is difficult to make a prediction right now about the length of his recovery.

Alex Rins:

"It's a shame what happened today. I really wanted to race here in Montmeló and to have a solid performance to get back on track after some tough races. Tomorrow I will undergo surgery and then we'll talk about timings for the recovery. In any case we will work really hard to get the feeling back as soon as possible and try to return quickly. I don't know yet if I'll be ready for the German GP but I will work hard to be fit by then. Thank you for the messages of support.”

Shinichi Sahara - Project Leader and Team Director:

“I was surprised and really disappointed to hear this news. Alex himself has been training very hard, and we as a team have been working and investigating how best to overcome the recent situation which has seen Alex have several crashes in the last races. This injury is very bad timing because we were feeling ready to fight again in good shape here in Catalunya.

“We hope Joan Mir can have a great result this weekend, but of course we will miss Alex - we all wish him a good surgery, quick recovery, and to come back even stronger as soon as possible.”

It has been decided that Alex Rins will not be replaced for this GP. However, Sylvain Guintoli will be riding as planned during the test on Monday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

All Team Suzuki Ecstar staff would like to wish Alex a quick recovery.

Further information will be released tomorrow after the operation.

Team Suzuki Press Office - June 4.

While riding a bicycle in training yesterday (Thursday June 3rd) at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Alex Rins suffered a crash which caused trauma to his right wrist with significant bruising, as well as a cranial impact.

A CT scan was performed once the Team Suzuki Ecstar rider had been taken to the Dexeus University hospital in Barcelona, and this found a Trans-styloid Intrarticular Fracture of the Distal Radius. In order to facilitate a speedy recovery, he went into surgery this morning (June 4th) and the operation went smoothly.

Dr. Xavier Mir - Head of the Hand, Elbow and Microsurgery Surgery Unit, Dexeus University Hospital:

"Today Alex Rins underwent a minimally invasive fixation with compression cannulated screws. If there are no complications, I think he will be able to start functional recovery next Monday, and we do not rule out the possibility that he could compete within two weeks in Sachsenring.”

Alex Rins:

“The operation went well and I am already thinking about my recovery and returning to 100% as soon as possible. This whole thing has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I apologise to the team for not being able to compete as we would have liked this weekend. Last year here we had a great result with both bikes on the podium and it is a pity that we cannot go for that again this year. Today’s operation hopefully means the shortest possible recovery time, and that’s why we made the decision to have the surgery. I’ll do my best to be back for the German Grand Prix. Thank you to everyone for the messages of support.”

Team Suzuki Ecstar send best wishes to Alex for his ongoing recovery, and further updates will be given when available.