Alex Rins admits to breathing troubles in Indonesia MotoGP practice

Yamaha’s Alex Rins admits there were times during Friday’s MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix practice where he found it “a little bit hard to breathe”.

The Spaniard was forced to miss last weekend’s Emilia Romagna GP after developing bronchitis, which meant he completed just one session at Misano before withdrawing.

He had recovered enough to be able to take part in Friday practice at Mandalika, where he finished 13th and just under two tenths from a Q2 spot.

But Rins admits the hot conditions meant, at times, it was hard for him to breathe still.

“It feels amazing,” he told the media, including Crash.net, when asked how it felt to be back on his Yamaha.

“It’s so hard to be at the track and not riding. But for sure the condition doesn’t help. This is true.

“It was super warm conditions and quite tough, but anyway we tried till the end to try to get into Q2. I was missing, I think, two corners that I cannot do in a proper way.

“I need to learn how to do it. I will compare the data of Fabio [Quartararo] for sure: corner one, corner 10, 11.

“So, for sure keep working, keep going. We did a very important test today with the new chassis. It’s working not bad, I’m quite happy with the improvements.

“I’m feeling good, physically. For sure, there are laps that it’s a little bit hard to breathe because I’m coming from bronchitis. But I can manage in a good way.”

Di Giannantonio’s physical condition getting him down

VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio says he was “a bit upset” after Friday’s practice due to his physical condition.

Di Giannantonio could be facing surgery in the next few weeks to fix the left shoulder he dislocated at the Austrian GP having revealed recently that he is at 80% risk of dislocating it again.

He gritted his teeth through practice in Indonesia and made it into Q2 despite a small crash late on, but concedes he is struggling physically at Mandalika.  

“It’s the first time since the injury that I’m a bit upset because, physically, I feel the tiredness,” he said.

“So, I could push more. I can feel I can go faster, but I cannot because I get tired too much.

“Once the left side starts to lose the power, I start to use only the right arm, and then I lose power in the right arm.

“So, it’s tough. But, apart from this, we’ve been quite fast. So, that’s good, I’m happy. So, it’s a balance of emotions today. But overall I think we are in a positive way.”

Di Giannantonio added that the biggest issue facing him right now with his injury is the fact it has stopped him from training properly, which means he is being sapped of energy quicker on the bike.

“The thing is that it is already two months that at home I cannot train like I want,” he said.

“I have to train saving energy, saving mobility for the shoulder.

“So, you are not training properly for MotoGP. You are just training, but recovering.

“So, over a long period you are losing your physical form.

“So, I’m in a worst physical form and with a little bit of pain it’s getting worse, even if we are recovering the shoulder. So, it’s a bit tough but we are not giving up.”