BARCELONA (Reuters) – Alex Rins blasted Takaaki Nakagami and the MotoGP stewards after a collision in the opening lap of Sunday’s Catalunya Grand Prix ended the race for both riders as well as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
As the group headed into turn one, Nakagami lost his balance and fell off his bike, with the Japanese rider’s helmet clipping Bagnaia’s rear wheel while his LCR Honda bike took out Rins’ Suzuki, launching him into the air at the corner.
Both Nakagami and Rins were taken to the hospital for further checks. Nakagami complained of pain in his shoulder but he had no serious head injuries or broken bones but Suzuki confirmed Rins had a wrist fracture.
“Sincerely, first of all I hope that Taka is ok because I saw him in the hospital with the face (looking) very bad. But he cannot go (on) like this, he cannot ride like this,” Rins told reporters.
“You never want that a rival gets injured, but he was over the limit in that action. This is the first thing I want to say. But the second is, it’s unacceptable. We cannot go like this, the Race Direction.
“The stewards make zero sense by saying ‘no further action’ will happen in the race… For sure they demonstrated today … (that they) are not at the level of (dealing with) MotoGP (races). In the end, his bike touched me and I flew so badly.”
Rins’s comments come a week after he was involved in another crash with Nakagami in Mugello where he had criticised the stewards for not penalising the Japanese rider.
Suzuki said Rins would undergo further assessments and checks before taking a call on whether the Spaniard would race at the German Grand Prix in two weeks.
“For sure I’m injured now, we’re racing at 350 km/hr, this is not a game,” Rins added. “As I say, they (stewards) are not at the level… they showed that today.
“No further action? First of all Taka crossed the track a bit aggressively. If there were some riders close to him, for sure he will touch them. The second one is he braked so late and he lost the front, it’s obvious.
“Forgetting about the incident in Mugello, today I’m injured. One rider took away chances for me to fight for the championship, but also Pecco (Bagnaia). Pecco was there fighting for the championship and I think not anymore this year.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
