Alex Rins: A piece of tarmac hit my finger in Brazil MotoGP

Alex Rins said he wasn’t aware of obvious damage to the Brazilian MotoGP track surface until he was hit on the finger by a ‘piece of tarmac’.

Sunday's race distance was reduced from 31 to 23 laps just minutes before the start due to 'track degradation'.

The decision played into the hands of Rins, who had already joined team-mate Fabio Quartararo and Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu in trying to make the soft rear tyre last the full distance. 

“Nobody, I think, was expecting this [distance change], but if Race Direction made this decision, it was because of the safety of the riders. So, a little bit less effort on the bike!” Rins said.

Turns 11 and 12 emerged as the main areas of degradation, with the surface breaking up.

Rins, who climbed from 17th to 12th in the early laps, said he mainly experienced “really low grip”, which he attributed to Pirelli rubber laid down during the Moto2 race.

He then revealed: “I didn't see any piece of tarmac missing on the track, but it's true, one piece of tarmac hit my finger.”

Despite the sketchy conditions, the Spaniard passed his team-mate to become the leading Yamaha rider on lap six and briefly reached 11th following incidents ahead.

Rins eventually finished 14th, 22 seconds behind Aprilia race winner Marco Bezzecchi.

“We achieved two points, not the best but at least some good overtakes and a bit of fighting with other riders,” he said.

Quartararo, who had starred with sixth in the Sprint, slipped back to 16th in the grand prix.

"The start was not as good as yesterday, and then we struggled a bit more,” said the Frenchman. “We also had an issue with the rear grip.

“Today something wasn't right, so I'm going to leave this GP behind me and enter the next round with an open mind. That said, all in all I really liked this circuit."

Razgatlioglu finished 17th, while his Pramac team-mate Jack Miller crashed out on lap two of the MotoGP race.