We’d prefer to be speaking about him on track but hearing the tones of Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) in the commentary box during MotoGP™ Free Practice 2 at the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini was a real treat.
The Spaniard continues to recover from his broken leg he sustained at the Italian GP but joined MotoGP™ commentators Matt Birt and Simon Crafar for a 15-minute catch-up – and plenty of topics were covered, including his recovery and the Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) to Gresini Racing rumours.
“The problem isn’t the nerves, the problem is the tibia. It's missing like 4 or 5cm of bone, it's what the doctor said in Montmelo. Honestly I wasn't conscious of the importance of my injury. We spoke in Montmelo with him and Lucio (Cecchinello).
“Our idea was to ride here, at least to try on Friday, to make more laps on Monday and then jump to India directly. But the doctor said this about the tibia so we need to wait a little bit more because the problem now is that if I put too much pressure into the bone, all the metal is going to suffer. And if I break something inside, some metal parts, then it will be very hard to repair.”
Rins, like everyone, is eager to learn where Marc Marquez will be racing in 2024. Strong rumours have surfaced in Misano and the #93 himself has fanned the flames with a funny social media post. But what does Rins think – is Marquez going to stick or twist for 2024?
Finally we could train on the bike 😃 And although it didn’t go as we wished, we will not give up! ✊🏼 See the chapter 3 of the documentary here: https://t.co/HlqEbr38hK#MotoGP #LCR #Honda #42ins #SanMarinoGP pic.twitter.com/no3CdNC5hK
— Alex Rins (@Rins42) September 9, 2023
“I heard a lot of rumours about this especially in the last hours. It could be a big shock for everybody, also for Honda. I think and believe that Marc is staying at Honda. He’s been there for many years, he was injured for many years, they respect him a lot and I can understand the situation of Marc right now because the bike doesn’t work and the Japanese guys didn’t give him things in order to go fast…
“…I believe that Marc is going to stay because he has a contract with them for one more year. You know the good thing? That Marc is playing. He’s playing, you saw his video with that sound, it was nice let’s say it like this. He’s taking benefit from this.”
Watch FP2 from Misano to listen to everything that Rins had to say, as we keep our fingers crossed we see the #42 back on track at the Grand Prix of India next time out.