Alex Rins crashed out of the MotoGP Thai Grand Prix last weekend, but was able to use the race to confirm ide൲as he had about the performance of his Yamaha YZR-M1.

In general, Rins faced the same issues as he and factory Yamaha teammate Fabio Quartararo hadꦑ faced in dry cꦡonditions during the 27-lap Grand Prix at the Buriram International Circuit.

Mostly, that meant tyre wa𝓰rm-up problems, and Rins took several laps to get down to his optimal pace.

“Overall, it was the saꦯme as the dry conditions,” Rins said.

“We had exactly the same problems; it took a lot of time, a lot of laps to warm the rear tyre, I had zero 🤡grip in th🐲e first part of the race.

“Then when the tyre became ready, after five or six laps, I was 🐼able 🐷to ride in mid-1:40s, low-1:40s, I did a 1:40.3.”

For reference, race winner Francesco Bagnaia’s best lap of the race was a 1:39.794, and he spent mo🧜st of the second half of the race in the mid-to-high-1:40s.

Rins had a similar rhythm🐽, but when he caught the group ahead of him his pace dropped into the 1:41s.

“So, I had one group of Honda b⛦ikes in front, at t𒐪hree seconds, and I was able to catch them.

ꩲ“Once I arrived, it was quite frustrating, because I was there, nothing to do, just I was recovering on braking, but 🍒then they were able to have more traction than me — much more, much more grip — and more top speed.

“So, I’ve just been there, thinking w🎃here it was possible to overtake, where not, and at some point I saw that [Luca] Marini had a little bit more and Joan [Mir] was not so strong as Marini, so I had the chance to overtake him, I overtake Joan.

“But already I was a little bit on the limit with the front tyre, because, once I arrive in theꦆ group, I was trying to do different lines to try the overt🧸ake, to try different things, and I was already feeling the front tyre [was] too soft, I was losing.2

In one way, the rain🤪 was a frustration for Rins because it meant he couldn’t try in dry conditions a se🎐tup change he’d made after Saturday.

“But, anyway, we did a big change from yesterday to today th❀at I couldn’t test in dry conditions, Iﷺ only test in the wet, so we will carry this setting for Sepang to see if we are able to find something for the future,” he said.

On the other hand, the similarity in the characteristics of the YZR-M1 in dry and wet conditions meant that the race reinforced Rins’ conviction about what the bike’s weak points are, and therefore where the bike needs to impღrove.

“It confirmed that the problems were the same ♓as in the dry,” Rins said.

“In many occasions I rode with Honda, with Marini in Misa♕no, and it was the same: they have better edge grip, better traction, and more top speed.”