Alex Rins will remain with Suzuki in the MotoGP World Championship for another two seasons after agreeing a contract extension with the factory outfit.
The Spaniard made his MotoGP debut with Suzuki in 2017 and has steadily become established as one of the series’ frontrunners, claiming his maiden victory in 2019 at Circuit of The Americas before adding to his tally with a famous win at Silverstone after a fabulous last lap battle with Marc Marquez.
Culminating with him finishing the 2019 season in a career-best fourth overall, Rins had been tipped as a potential title contender in 2020 on the back of a strong pre-season turn with Suzuki before the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to all motorsport action.
Nonetheless, though it was known Ducati was chasing Rins to join its team for 2021, the Spaniard has agreed terms to remain with Suzuki for the next two years.
“My wish was to continue with Suzuki and finally this is what I did. I believe that the project has the potential to be a winning one, I have the desire to win, and so we match perfectly. It’s the perfect place for me, and we are working hard all together to get big results.
“I have always believed in the team and for this reason it was easy to get to the basic agreement very early on. Then we took some time to finalise the details and follow all the internal processes.
“Now we have to understand what’s going to happen with the 2020 season, we are ready to compete at the maximum level, as we already showed in the pre-season tests. In this very moment the whole world is facing an unexpected situation that affects pretty much all countries and we need to be patient and see how it evolves.
“We will make ourselves ready for when we will be called to start racing, whenever this will happen. Dorna is doing all they can to allow us to compete, but they are of course taking into account what matters most; the safety and health of people. We can only stay ready and wait to be told when we can start, and in the meantime focus on training.”
Rins is expected to be partnered again with Joan Mir for at least 2021. The Spaniard made his MotoGP debut in 2019 and showed good pace comparable to Rins, though it is understood he too has been contacted by Ducati over a possible switch.
