COTA 2023 "something special" but Alex Rins not “spending too much time reminiscing”

Last year’s shock COTA victory was “something special” but Alex Rins insists he is focussed on the task in hand as he returns to Texas this weekend.

Rins provided the highlight of Honda’s 2023 season when he took the RC213V’s first MotoGP victory since 2021, in only his third start for the satellite LCR team.

But the Spaniard suffered leg fractures just two rounds later and, frustrated at the slow progress of parts across from the Repsol garage, had signed for Monster Yamaha by the time he returned to action in late summer.

Although Marc Marquez has earned the title of COTA king courtesy of his seven MotoGP wins, Rins is the next most successful rider with two premier-class victories (Suzuki in 2019, Honda in 2023) as well as wins in Moto3 (2013) and Moto2 (2016). He’s also been on the podium in 2015 and 2022.

With a best of 13th place on the M1 so far, a rostrum this weekend would seem a stretch… but Rins had only finished 10th and 9th for LCR before arriving at Austin last season.

“Of course, I'm very happy to be back at COTA. It's a track that I really like, and last year's victory was something special,” Rins said.

“I'm looking forward to this GP, it's one of my favourites. But rather than spending too much time reminiscing, I want to focus on the task at hand.”

While Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales became the first rider to win MotoGP ‘races’ with three different brands, courtesy of his Portimao Sprint victory, Rins and Jack Miller still have the chance to become the first rider to win GPs on three different bikes.

The 28-year-old feels he now needs to find on his own set-up for the M1, to take the next step, but was denied the chance to test alongside team-mate Fabio Quartararo due to rain on the Monday after Portimao.

“It was a real shame that the private test in Portimao was cancelled. We were very unlucky with the weather,” Rins said. “It meant we had to adjust our plans, and we will work on my bike's settings this weekend instead.”

While Quartararo was announced as staying with Yamaha during the break between Portimao and COTA, Rins’ present one-year contract expires at the end of this season.