10th place start for Alex Rins in Italy
The second day at the stunning Mugello Circuit saw the hotly-anticipated Saturday sessions live up to all expectations as the riders pushed hard, the pace was extremely quick, and the fastest ever lap was recorded around the Tuscan track.
Alex Rins used the early part of FP3 to confirm his settings, but he made a good final push to place himself 9th, and crucially into Q2.
In FP4 Alex Rins had a high speed fall at Turn 13, but luckily the young Spaniard was able to rejoin the session quickly, despite shoulder pain.
The Team SUZUKI ECSTAR riders both began the session with the medium-soft tyre combination. Rins continued to push towards the Top 10 and ended the session with a 1:46.909, and 10th spot.
Alex Rins:
“It was a fast crash and I hurt my right shoulder, so I lost a bit of strength in my shoulder during qualifying, and I need to go to the Clinica Mobile to have some checks before tomorrow. But apart from that, everything is going well. The crash was strange because I just left the pits with the new asymmetric tyre and I entered the last chicane like always but I lost the front completely. We tried the new chassis in FP2 and I feel more stability with it, I think the chassis helps me to give more. Unfortunately I crashed with this new chassis so I had to do qualifying without it. I need to find a bit more confidence on corner entry, but I hope to have a good race tomorrow.”