The addition of holeshot devices means MotoGP riders have plenty tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚo do as they arrive on♕ the grid for a race start.

And while Suzuki's Alex R🍌ins had no problem with his (front only) start device on the GSX-RR for Sunday's Qatar season-opener, the Spaniard forgot to eng𓄧age launch control.

Launch control lowers the maxi🦂mum RPM available to what the team and rider feels is the optimum le🎃vel for the crucial acceleration away from the grid. Without it, riders still have anti-wheelie and traction control, but must tame the RPM themselves.

"I forgot to put the launch control, and it was very difficult to manage all the power from the bike," said R𝔉ins, who began the race from ninth.

Although Rins lost ground on the run to Turn 1, being passed by Pol Espargaro and the flying Jorge Martin, he was ab♉le to dive under Franco Morbidelli to hold tenth place.

"At least the start was not so bad, but usually I'm able to recover 2 or 3 positions. This time it was so ꧑difficult and I pushed a lot to recover the time lost compared to the first guys, and I think we destroyed the tyres."

Rins reached a peak of fourth place by mid-distance, but the usually tyre-friendly GSX-RR was starting to suffer a loss of tyre gr💃ip and d🔯ropped to sixth at the finish.

"6 laps before Joan overtook me [on lap 18], I was stꦇruggling with the rear tyre. For sure, I pushed so hard in the middle of the race to recover time, but then w꧃hen I caught my rivals, I began losing that time.

"So we lost everything. But anyway, we d🐓id a really a good pace, and let's wo🔯rk for the next one."

And what will Rins try to do 👍differenജtly in this Sunday's second Qatar race?

"Fir𝔍st of all, I will try to push the launch control button! And then let's see how we start," he smiled. "We had the pace, I saw Viñales trying to overtake Pecco, and I w☂as saying, 'Pecco, come on, wait two more laps!' Because I knew if Maverick overtook him, he would go.

"[Apart from the start] I would make the same strategy. To push, make int💜elligent overtakes. For example, if I have a chance to overtake a Ducati on the l🏅ast corner, I will instead remain behind, because otherwise on the straight, the Ducati will pass me again, no?"

That's exactly what happened to team-mate and reigning champion🍸 Mir, who lost out on a podium when he was overtaken by both Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia on the run to the finish line.