Alex Rins Takes Points in Mandalika
Mandalika International Street CircuitLCR Honda CASTROL rider Alex Rins has finished 9th on his first Sunday race after his return.
The Spaniard has done a fantastic job on his first race since he got injured in Mugello last June. Today, starting from the 21st spot of the grid, suffering and having a lot of pain in his right leg, he’s managed to do a clever race in which he’s pushed, controlled the situation, and overtaken riders until getting to the 9th position. Hats off to Alex; he’s scored valuable points for the championship and demonstrated, once again, the great professional he is.
LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami has ended 11th on Sunday at the Mandalika Circuit.
Starting from the 20th spot on the grid, the Japanese has positively completed one of the most demanding races of the season so far. The high temperatures and extreme conditions on track throughout the 27 laps weren’t easy to handle. Still, Nakagami managed not to lose concentration, overtook riders, and finally crossed the line 11th, scoring valuable points for the championship.
The 27 laps have been tough as around 10 laps to the end, I started to feel a lot of pain and had to keep focused to do the best job possible. It feels good to be back on the points after more than 100 days without racing, and I’d like to thank the team. They deserve this result, and as always, they’ve done an incredible job.
It’s been a tough race, and one of the most demanding things was to control the tyre consumption cleverly. The conditions were quite extreme, but I’m happy because we’ve added some points again, which is positive; now we’ll try to improve in Australia to fight for the Top 10.
