Rinaldi: ‘I thought about getting in that fight, enjoyed the view’

Perhaps an impossible demand given the two title contenders exchanged the lead of the race on nearly every lap of Race 2, however, Rinaldi was very close to join that fight with just a few laps to go.

After starting from sixth, Rinaldi made quick progress before slotting into P3 behind Bautista and Razgatlioglu.

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Rinaldi’s pace was very strong, something we didn’t get to see from him in Race 1 after suffering a technical issue.

And while he was happy to claim a podium, the Italian was hoping for more.

“It has been a really good race and I pushed a lot to achieve this podium,” said Rinaldi after Race 2. “At one point I thought about getting in that fight for the win but I wasn’t able to. So I enjoyed the view. 

“This weekend has been really unlucky because yesterday I made second place during qualifying but because of the yellow flag I had to start from 12th. 

“Then I started the race with that commitment to try and finish the race in the top positions, but after some laps when I was improving my position my bike had a technical problem and I had to retire. 

“In the Superpole Race the mentality was ‘you don’t have many laps to try and fight for the win but you have a good pace so start to gain positions for Race 2’. 

“We were able to finish sixth and then in Race 2 I just gave my best. Happy about this podium but losing the chance twice [of fighting for the win] is more.”

If Rinaldi could have joined the battle for the win and finished ahead of Razgatlioglu, it would have meant Bautista was crowned world champion, so long as the Spaniard won the race.

But Rinaldi was not thinking about helping his teammate, but rather his own performance. 

“I knew that if I finished second and Alvaro won that he would be world champion,” added the Italian. “I was aware of that but my focus was trying to ride the bike the best I could. 

“When I closed the gap to them it was because they were battling really hard. 

“When they didn’t do that my gap was the same. So I just thought about that for a fraction of a second.”