Rins: Strong start from qualifying vital for Mugello

Alex Rins says resolving Suzuki’s recent slump in qualifying will be key at the Italian MotoGP as he looks to bounce back from an underwhelming race at Le Mans.

The Spaniard finished outside the top five for the first time in 11 races, a run stretching back to the last year’s Austrian round, when he battled up the order to 10th having qualified a disastrous 19th place at the French round.

Rins is eager to “learn from our small mistakes” my making amends in qualifying at Mugello, a race he finished an impressive fifth place 12 months ago, as he looks to kick-start his title challenge. Rins has failed to qualify on the front two rows at any round this season with seventh place at the Americas round - which he went on to win - remaining his best qualifying performance in 2019.

“The Mugello circuit is one of the most demanding but yet most thrilling tracks of the whole championship, it’s always exciting to ride and compete in that setting, especially surrounded by the incredible crowd of people who light up the whole weekend,” Rins said.

“In Le Mans we rode a defensive race, and we managed to get some important points that keep me up in the classification, but for sure we must learn from our small mistakes and become more consistent and efficient.

“Mugello will be an important test of this, we have to start very well from the qualifying onwards and try to get all the advantages we can with our technical package, which is a good base and one I fully trust.”

Despite his disappointing 10th place at Le Mans last time out Rins is third in the MotoGP riders’ standings, 12 points behind Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso and 20 points off of leader Marc Marquez.