Rins: Assen will suit Suzuki and Yamaha

Alex Rins believes Assen remains a strong track for both his Suzuki squad and its Yamaha rivals due to the circuit characteristics as he revisits a track which provided him with a breakthrough race 12 months ago.

After a maiden MotoGP rostrum in at the United States MotoGP last year, Rins struggled to replicate his front-running pace until the Dutch round when he was involved in the seven-rider fight for victory before eventually missing out in second place behind winner Marc Marquez.

Since that race Rins has gone on to lead the Suzuki charge, taking three more podiums in 2017 before his first-ever premier class victory, another first achieved at Circuit of the Americas at this year’s United States MotoGP, with a second place at the next race in Jerez.

Having missed out on the rostrum for the past three rounds, including two near-misses with consecutive fourth-place finishes at Mugello and Montmelo, Rins is eager to rediscover his podium-fighting pace at Assen which he expects to favour both Suzuki and Yamaha given the flowing circuit with less demand on outright top speed and acceleration.

“The key is to go full gas. This track looks like a good track for the Suzuki bike but also for Yamaha,” Rins said. “But as you could see last year the group was massive with a lot of riders at the front.

“We will try to give 100% and I enjoy the track a lot overtaking, doing the fast corners so let’s try to do a good job.”

Reflecting on his frustrating Catalan MotoGP, Rins is hopeful of righting the wrongs from that race having been a strong podium contender in second place during the closing laps before a clash with Danilo Petrucci which dropped him down to fourth place.

“When I was second I was trying to go from Petrucci but it was difficult and maybe in the hot conditions, I don’t know why, but we suffered a lot,” he said. “Also we suffered a lot trying to overtake the Ducati bikes.

“The pressure went up and the bike was floating. I saved a nearly-crash and I went home with points so this is the important thing.”

Rins remains third in the MotoGP world championship but just two points off Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.