Alex Rins' Victory In Australia's MotoGP Becomes The Separation Card For Suzuki

Alex Rins celebrated the victory after the Australian MotoGP GP race at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, Phillip Island, Australia, Sunday (16/10/2022). (Between/Reuters/Loren Elliott)

JAKARTA - Spanish racer Alex Rins presented his victory at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday for the Suzuki Ecstar team which will leave the MotoGP world championship at the end of the 2022 season.

Suzuki has announced its plans to withdraw from MotoGP last July following an agreement with promoter Dorna Sports.

Starting from P10 on the Phillip Island grid, Rins made a surprise by rushing into the podium zone after seven laps and taking turns several times leading the race with Jorge Martin, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia who were in the front group.

On lap 14, Rins pressed forward, and from there he fought hard to attack and defend at a time when the 10 leading riders were only 1.8 seconds apart.

Rins, who is confident with the GSX-RR speed at the corner, refused to give up despite turning back to P3 with three laps remaining before performing two overtaking maneuvers to bring him once again lead the race before finishing and securing a fourth win in his MotoGP career.

"I was very happy. During the race I felt quite good, even this bike felt amazing," said Rins who finished 0.186 seconds ahead of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia, as quoted by Antara.

"I'm trying to keep the rear tires, because I know this circuit is pretty loud with tires. But in the end I was able to find good traction at the flowing bends so it allowed me to improve my position and feel strong until the end.

"The whole team and everyone who has worked for this project deserves this win, as well as fans, so I am very happy to be celebrating another win together before we split."

Rins next season will undergo a new adventure with the Honda LCR team as a replacement for Alex Marquez who anchored to Gresini.

Meanwhile, Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia took over the top of the standings after finishing P3 in Australia during his main rival, Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha's side crashed in the race.

Quartararo, who is now 14 points behind in second place, has a tough duty to turn things around with two races remaining, namely in Sepang next week and Valencia on November 6.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro also still has a chance of winning the world title after finishing P9 in Australia and keeping his position in third place with 24 points from the top, according to the official MotoGP website.