Alex Rins says running in a podium position at the Indonesian Grand Prix reminded him of the good old times for the six-time MotoGP race winner.
The Mandalika round was a sudden return to form for the Spaniard, who has had a wretched year aboard the factory Yamaha. Having qualified a season-high fourth on the grid, Rins was running second in Indonesia with five laps to go.
Then his soft rear tyre suddenly cried enough and Rins was swallowed up by the field, falling to 10th place at the flag.
But even that was a good result by Rins’s 2025 standards, matching his best grand prix finish of the year. The 29-year-old was thus delighted with his weekend overall.
“I’m really happy. Not because of the race, just because of the weekend,” said Rins, who won five times for Suzuki before his most recent win, aboard a Honda, at COTA in 2023.
“It reminded me a little bit of the old times, with the Suzuki, enjoying [riding]. I was riding quite well, I was defending my position, I was overtaking.
Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Qian Jun / MB Media via Getty Images
“We knew before starting the race that with the soft tyres we were going to suffer. I [expected] that the drop would come early but, in the end, it was only the last five laps.
“But yeah, I gave my best, I tried to control the rear tyre. And until the last five laps I was there. We did a great weekend.”
While the Indonesian round generally went against the form book and could be viewed as an outlier, the next race does offer hope that Rins can back up his performance. That’s because he is something of a specialist at Phillip Island, host to the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks.
While one of his Suzuki wins came at the epic Victorian layout in 2022, Rins also won there in Moto2 (2015) and Moto3 (2013). So, he will go to Australia with track form as well as some ammunition with which to silence his doubters.
“I never stopped believing in myself,” he said after the Mandalika race. “There are some people around me who stopped believing in me, questioning me. But I never stopped believing that I was able to do it.
“Sure, it’s only one weekend, but now we go to Australia. Let’s see how it goes at Phillip Island. We have really good memories there.”
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