‘Moto2 style’ carried Alex Rins to historic Honda victory

With Marc Marquez absent through injury, the next best RCV after Rins was just 13th in qualifying (and 12th in the Sprint (Joan Mir).

Rins’ victorious LCR machine was then the only Honda to even reach the finish in the Sunday race with Mir, Takaaki Nakagami and Stefan Bradl all crashing out.

Rins’ team-mate Nakagami spent much of the weekend examining telemetry to try and understand how the Spaniard was so fast around the Texan track, where he has now taken five wins across all grand prix classes.

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Nakagami’s conclusion was that: “His riding style is completely opposite [to mine]. Like Moto2 style.

“This track has very poor grip, so maybe he finds it [grip] from the riding style. He just carried speed, he's a lot faster.

“It looks like he doesn't pick up the bike [on corner exit]. But he gains somehow. And a lot less spin.

“Me and Joan, we always try to stop the bike and pick up the bike. And as soon as possible we try to open full throttle, but that just creates crazy spin, and we don't gain anything.”

The Japanese added: “Our problem is that as soon as I touch the throttle, we have like crazy spin, like snapping and it's so difficult to stay on the bike. So looks like I [need] smooth riding, pick up the bike less.”

But identifying what Rins was doing and replicating it are two very different things, with Nakagami explaining it would require major changes to his bike set-up.

“Friday and also [Saturday], my riding style was like a V shape [in the corners]. But if I need to change to very smooth riding, we need to change the setup and electronics. We don't have time.”

Nakagami, who qualified 17th, finished directly behind Mir in the Sprint race and then fell - due to a technical problem – from ninth midway through the Sunday race.

“I finished just behind Joan Mir [on the Sprint], and once again only Rins made some extra performance this weekend and he finished second. So looks like Joan and myself had a very similar performance for the Sprint race, we had the same lap time and the same pace, and it looks like exactly the same areas we struggle a lot.

“We definitely have a lack of rear grip and are spinning a lot. I couldn't feel any drive.

“[In warm-up] I changed [style] a little bit and I gained in some areas. But as I said, we needed to adapt also the setup on the bike,” Nakagami said.

“Because only riding style, I changed and in some areas it was completely wrong, and it meant a lot less pressure on the front brake mid-corner, which means the front feeling is gone. The balance was wrong. So we needed to change something [on the bike but there was no time].”

Nakagami’s difficult weekend then came to a premature end when he suffered a gearbox problem during the 20-lap grand prix.

“I had a crash at turn one because during the race I had some issue with the gearbox,” he said. “[For] many laps the gear doesn't go in and that moment was like I had a neutral.

“Then I tried to stop, but I locked the front so it was game over.”

Despite his own disappointment, Nakagami was delighted for the LCR team.

“For the team, it's amazing, my team-mate’s victory," he said. "100 podiums for the team. So yeah, I want to talk only about this! Now we're going to Europe and the next race will be my favourite track in Jerez. So I will try to refresh my mind.

“Honestly this weekend we couldn't find any solution. At Jerez, a different track, different conditions and where HRC has done lots of tests I think we can get some different items or a different setup.”

The Spanish Grand Prix will also be followed by a post-race test on the Monday.

Rins is now up to fourth in the world championship, after three rounds, with Nakagami 17th after the non-score at COTA