Suzuki rider Alex Rins has raged at a ‘senseless’ overtaking attempt from Johann Zarco in today’s Dutch TT that he says cost him the chance to fight for the podium, after contact between the pair on the second lap sent him to the back of the pack.
Rins was eventually able to rally back to 11th, but was fuming at the Pramac Ducati rider afterwards.
Attempting a block pass at Turn 10, Mandeven, on lap two of 27, Zarco went a little wide on the exit, taking Rins with him – but while the Frenchman was able to stay on track and retain his place before eventually finishing fourth, Rins was forced onto the gravel to stay upright – and was left angry at losing what he believes was a good opportunity.
“What happened with Mr. Johann? I think everyone saw it,” he said afterwards. “I was very unlucky, but if I hadn’t been there maybe he would have gone out. I didn’t expect that overtake, and his wing hit my arm.
“I was trying to pick up the bike to avoid him and I went to the gravel, last position, trying to recover a bit of time later.
“It was very unlucky, because the laptime was there. The pace wasn’t good enough to win, but it was to finish in the top three or four.
“It’s difficult to be happy, because we had the pace but it’s one more race that I haven’t finished in the position that we wanted.
“Tomorrow I’ll be happy about the pace, because we did our job. When I was riding and recovering positions, overtaking the others, you theoretically lose a bit of time but I was still fast.
“So today I’m sad.”
Contact between @JohannZarco1 and @Rins42! 💥
No further action taken! ❌#DutchGP 🇳🇱 pic.twitter.com/EKTCCged01
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) June 27, 2021
He wasn’t just “sad” but angry, however, railing against what he says is a spate of dangerous moves from Zarco, who avoided any sanction from the MotoGP stewards despite the incident being briefly investigated during the race.
“He destroyed our race,” fumed Rins. “Since he’s come into MotoGP in 2016 he’s been so aggressive on the overtakes.
“It was a strange movement, because he’s there fighting for the world championship. Imagine we had both crashed together. It made no sense.
“If you ask other riders, maybe one or two would complain about me. But I overtook a lot of riders in this race, because I was last and came to P11, and I think that no one could complain about my overtakes.”
For his part, though, Zarco downplayed the clash. Admitting that he knew there had been contact between himself and the Suzuki rider, the Frenchman was adamant that the overtake wasn’t particularly aggressive or out of control.
“I didn’t speak to him and I didn’t know that he was upset,” Zarco said when The Race asked him about Rins’ comments. “It’s true that we had contact, but it’s not an easy corner and in that moment of the race I felt like I needed to stay with the front group. It was my strong area of the track, and I had even tried to overtake Vinales there, who was a bit faster.
“I went wide, and it’s true that we touched because when you try to attack there it’s not easy to stay on the line – but clearly I was fully under control, and I don’t know if he went totally off the track or what.
“In that moment, I was happy to overtake him and that no one had overtaken us afterwards because we went wide.
“A guy like [Joan] Mir can really come quickly in these situations because he’s very quick to overtake.
“I didn’t speak with him, but people can come straight to me if they need to speak to me – it’s the way I do it. And I’m sure with Rins it can also be this way.”
