Suzuki MotoGP rider Alex Rins has explained why he ended up visibly quarrelling with a track marshal after a crash during second Misano practice.
Rins tucked the front coming into the final corner, the left-handed Curva Misano, at the halfway point of the 45-minute session, separating with his Suzuki GSX-RR swiftly as it went hard into the barriers.
As the TV feed picked up the crash site footage, Rins was seen running through the gravel – likely towards the pitlane, where he could mount a spare GSX-RR – when he was grabbed by the arm by a marshal, who was pointing for him to go the other way, presumably towards the access road behind the barriers.
This prompted an aggressive reaction to Rins, who subsequently remonstrated with the marshalling crew about being grabbed.
Speaking to media after the session, Rins said he had gone to explain himself to the marshal in the aftermath of FP2, and explained what had made him so incensed to begin with.
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“I was so angry because usually there are two kinds of crashes – the one that you hit the floor strong and the airbag deploys, and the other one that the airbag doesn’t deploy and you can rejoin after.
“So, in my case when I crashed at 150km/h, was not a heavy crash, the airbag didn’t deploy – but then the marshal came, hit [grabbed] me and then deployed the airbag.
“So… for this reason I was a little bit angry with him. But during the Moto2 session I went there to talk with him, and that’s it.”
Rins, who will join LCR Honda on a two-year deal starting in 2023, finished the day 14th overall, having been “unfortunately a little bit out of confidence to push again” after the fall.
He reckoned it may have been down to the front tyre being “a little bit cold” – with Curva Misano largely preceded by right-handers, meaning the left side of the tyre will have been below optimal temperature – but said the feeling on the day otherwise had been positive.
