Alex Rins will remain with Suzuki’s MotoGP squad until at least the end of the 2022 season, the Japanese marque announced this morning.
The yet-to-start ’20 season is the second and final covered in the two year deal Rins agreed with Suzuki towards the end of his ’17 rookie campaign, with his latest extension securing his future with the team for a further two years.
He heads into his fourth year with Suzuki looking to retain his position as effective team-leader, with team-mate Joan Mir sure to improve even further after beginning to pressure Rins in the closing stages of the ’17 Moto3 champions’ rookie campaign.
“My wish was to continue with Suzuki and finally this is what I did,” said Rins on his new deal.
“I believe that the project has the potential to be a winning one, I have the desire to win, and so we match perfectly. It’s the perfect place for me, and we are working hard all together to get big results.
“I have always believed in the team and for this reason it was easy to get to the basic agreement very early on.”
Rins earned his factory Suzuki chance following several strong seasons across Moto2 and Moto3-taking vice champion results in both- with 12 wins being accrued across his five seasons at junior grand prix level.
Rins made his premier class debut with Suzuki for the ’17 campaign, but struggled with a flawed engine aboard GSX-RR and injury to a lowly 16th place championship position-although scored an impressive fourth place in the season finale at Valencia.
Things improved for his sophomore campaign though, scoring his first MotoGP podium at the second round of the season in Argentina before ending the year fifth overall-picking up a further four rostrums.
The Spaniard then scored his first ever victory in last year’s United States grand prix, before edging eventual world champion Marc Marquez to another success at the British GP held at Silverstone.
Mir will also likely remain at Suzuki past the end of his current contract-which also runs out this year-but the lack of any running so far this season has likely put the brakes on any further contract talk.
