“Being a father has changed my life, for the better”

The Catalan Alex Rins (Suzuki) was, without a doubt, one of the happiest yesterday in Portimao, despite not having won any races this year and not even getting on the podium at last Sunday’s test in Portugal. But Rins, 26, had plenty of reasons to be happy: he finished fourth, already has 69 points in the Drivers’ World Championship (the same as the champion and leader, the French fabio quartararowhich is because he has already won a GP), he knows that suzuki He wants to renew him for at least two more years and, in addition, he claims to be living a new life, both personally and professionally.

That is to say, let’s say it now! We are facing a new Àlex Rins, before the Rins 2.0who bases all his success and strength on the family he has, his wife Alexandra and his son Lukebarely seven months old, and in a new way of training, mentally preparing with the help of experts and changing the way of working in boxing with his coach, the Argentine Manuel Cazeauxa charming being.

“Here, in the ‘paddock’, I have always heard that when you are a father, you stop twisting the fist of the gas. What’s more, there are even those who say that being a father means going one second slower per lap. Well, I must be the proof that this is not true. Since I became a father, my life has changed, on and off the track for the better, for the better”, comments Rins, two hours after the end of the Portuguese GP. “Nobody knows what it means for a pilot to return home after a hard training or race and be received by your son with the best of his smiles. If everything has gone well for you, to celebrate it; if nothing has gone well for you, to forget, turn the page and plug in for the next race or training & rdquor ;.

Rins assures that, without a doubt, another point that has contributed to the fact that, despite not having won yet this year, everything is going great for him, is that Suzuki’s new manager, the Italian Livio Suppoformer team Repsol-Hondahe told them in Qatar “both to me and to Joan (look)” that his intention was to renew the contract of both of them so that they could continue with the blue firm. “That, despite the fact that I still don’t know the conditions and my manager hasn’t started talking to Livio yet, it gives you a lot of peace of mind and you can focus on your thing, which is training and racing”.

The driver from Lleida, who was unable to explain how he went from 23rd place on the starting grid at Portimao to 10th in just one lap, the first, and finishing fourth, does acknowledge that “at the start I risked a lot, because it was the only way to overtake on a circuit where there are hardly any points to overtake the rival; I went outside, afraid that they would push me off the track and my career would end, not just the comeback, but it went well because nobody thought of me or noticed that I was overtaking them on the outside & rdquor ;.

Then, according to his account, he made clean and risk-free overtaking and, above all, without running dirty “because I’m not one of those and I don’t know how to do it.” when he got to Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia)who was in third position after Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha, 1st) Y Johann Zarco (Ducati, 2nd), “I stuck to him and let him carry me until the last four laps. When the time came, I showed Aleix the wheel, but I saw him very strong and I thought he should risk too much to get on the podium and I preferred to add the 13 points of fourth place & rdquor ;.

He couldn’t say more, although that’s enough. “No, no, I can’t say more because, really, I barely remember how I came back, although I know it’s one of my great races, yes. Everything was very fast, that’s why I don’t remember & rdquor ;. Of his chances of finishing, finally!, champion, Rins not only does not want to talk but he sees it so, so, so far away “that it makes no sense to talk about those things when we all know that this has just begun. Of course, I feel very proud to have scored so many points in this start of the World Cup & rdquor ;.