The only MotoGP rookie in the running, the very deserving Augusto Fernandez, regretted in Misano that his fine series of Grand Prix finished in the points, which began at the start of this season, came to an end. A disappointment shared by a Tech3 GASGAS team which did not experience success in this Grand Prix of Sait Marin since its other driver Pol Espargaró collected crashes. We will have to recover from this missed meeting at the next one in less than ten days which will be the great unknown of the first meeting in India...
On his escapade on the banks of the Adriatic, Augusto Fernandez commented : " It was a difficult weekend overall, and we finished the race outside of the points, which is obviously not what we wanted. My departure was not the best, I lost a lot of positions when the lights went out, and then I got stuck behind a slower group, and I couldn't get past them for a while. Once I was finally able to get away from that group, I found a better rhythm and I found myself behind Brad Binder, so from there I tried to learn from him. I had decent lap times towards the end, in 1.32, so we take those positives ».
Sixteenth in the Sunday standings, the reigning Moto2 World Champion then moved up one place during the Monday test, after completing 77 laps: “ we did a lot of laps and focused on improving our basess » commented Augusto Fernandez on this day. “ We tried new parts, there were positives and negatives, but I think we made decent progress overall, which will be very important for the next eight rounds. Our pace was good all day and I'm particularly happy because we achieved our best time of the day on worn tires, which is almost equal to my qualifying lap on Saturday ».
Nicolas Goyon: “ the test was a very important opportunity for Augusto Fernandez to ride without pressure »
The team manager Nicolas Goyon was in unison with his driver, starting with the results of the San Marino Grand Prix: “ it goes without saying that we have just experienced the most difficult weekend of the season for GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3. We couldn't score any points, which is a big disappointment for all of us. We had some hopes for Augusto Fernandez, especially after the warm-up because he seemed to have found good directions, but he struggled in the race in hot conditions, it took him a long time to reach a decent pace, and then it was too late to fight for a decent result. We really need to improve both qualifying and the start of the races if we want to get good results. ».
On the test MotoGP, the Frenchman added: “ it was a very important opportunity for Augusto Fernandez to ride without pressure and test different settings, because the new 2023 format with the Sprint on Saturday doesn't leave much time for these things. It's always about performance during race weekends, so this was very good for his progression. He covered around 300 km in total, tried different engine configurations for Pierer Mobility engineers, different suspensions and new tires brought by Michelin. He leaves rather happy with the sensations he had on the bike, so it was a positive day for him ».
