Along with his Suzuki teammate Joan Mir, Alex Rins has switched to the Honda camp for the 2023 MotoGP season. While 2020 World Champion Mir will start for the Repsol factory team, Rins, also with a factory contract, has switched to Honda satellite team LCR.
It’s a new situation for Rins. Since his promotion to MotoGP for the 2017 season, the Spaniard has driven exclusively for Suzuki and thus in a works team. Are there still major differences in the way you work in what is now such a balanced premier class of motorcycling? “It’s a little bit different,” says Rins.
“I used to be on a factory team with two bikes. Now I’m with Honda on a satellite team but on a factory contract. And we have four bikes [mit Werksstatus]. All four drivers are under contract with the manufacturer. It’s different.” In fact, Rins and Mir were on their own at Suzuki. A deal with a potential client team never materialized.
Alex Rins: At Suzuki there are a lot more employees around
Rins describes it as “really nice” to finally be able to work with three colleagues at Honda instead of just one and exchange data. Because: “If your teammate is slower or falls, you don’t have any [brauchbaren] information from him. But now you can see data from two other bikes.”
At the same time, moving to a satellite team also means Rins doesn’t always have instant access to the latest developments from the manufacturer. New parts go first to the Honda factory team around Mir and superstar Marc Márquez.
“At Suzuki, I came into the pits and a lot of people came up to me. Now it’s just my crew chief and a Honda guy. Also, as for the parts: I didn’t get the same parts in Sepang as the Repsol Honda Team. It’s difficult to build four chassis if you don’t know if it will work or not,” says Rins.
Adaptation to LCR Honda way of working: “On the right track”
It is also important that the driver and the team harmonize well on a personal level. In this context, the 27-year-old Spaniard praises the relationship with his new team: “The feeling in the new team is great. The relationship with the mechanics, with my crew chief, with Honda is very good.”
This also helps with acclimatization. In his new environment, Rins first has to get used to how Lucio Cecchinello’s team works – and vice versa. “You have to work with a lot of people, sometimes in a very different way, because they’re used to working differently,” explains Rins.
“But they also adapt to the way I work. We’re on the right track. I trust them and they trust me.” LCR Honda’s Rins finished MotoGP testing at Portimao 15th on the combined timesheets. That put him just behind Mir and Márquez. The 2023 season will also open in Portugal next weekend.