Top ten start for Alex Rins in Austria

After a soaking opening day at the Red Bull Ring in Austria, slightly brighter skies met the riders for the second day of action. However, the track remained damp and chilly during F3, meaning there was no chance for improvements in lap times. Alex Rins used the session to further build on his good feeling in wet conditions and he completed the session in 8th place.

In FP4 the sun began to shine and slick tyres were the order of the afternoon. Rins and Iannone worked on their dry settings and made promising improvements ahead of qualifying, with the Italian finishing 4th.

With the track completely dry qualifying became intense, Rins was able to use his good pace and smooth style in Q1 to put himself into 2nd place, and graduate to Q2.

As the session came to a close the Suzuki pairing placed themselves in the Top 10, both less than a second away from the pole time.

Alex Rins:
“Qualifying was quite nice, I was feeling comfortable on the bike and I gave my maximum, 110%, to get through to Q2 – which was our target. In Q2 I did my best and enjoyed it, and finally I’ll start in 10th tomorrow. We need to make a good start and try to enjoy the race, I feel good and I feel ready to battle with the other riders. Starting in 10th place here is difficult because the track is tight, but we will fight and I will try to defend positions. Let’s see if we can be with the top group.”