Fermín Aldeguer made headlines for his return to MotoGP, but not in the way he would have liked. The young Spaniard had been absent for two Grands Prix after fracturing the first metacarpal in his right hand during his crash at the Indonesian GP.
This was his third injury of the year, after first fracturing his femur in training during the winter break and then a vertebra during practice for the Dutch Grand Prix. He only missed the opening race in Thailand for the first injury, but the second left him without three races, including the one at Assen. Now, he had just added two more withdrawals to what has already been a particularly difficult season in terms of injuries.
Finally recovered and cleared by the doctors, he didn't get off to a great start this weekend, missing Q2 yesterday, but he managed to get through Q1 this morning and ultimately qualified ninth. After a good start in the sprint race, he had climbed to seventh on the first lap when he overtook Pedro Acosta and tried to kill two birds with one stone with Francesco Bagnaia.
However, he completely missed his braking and crashed head-on into the rear of the Italian's Ducati, which launched him into the air and brought him crashing down heavily before triggering a red flag.
Bagnaia was stretchered off and it has since been learned that he will miss the rest of the weekend . Meanwhile, Fermín Aldeguer received a double long lap penalty to be served at the restart. Finishing 11th, he confirmed he has good pace ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix.
However, he came under fire for his maneuver, with some believing he should not have been allowed to start.
“First of all, I want to apologize to Pecco and his entire team. I made a mistake attempting an overtake and I’m truly sorry ,” he said . “The crash was spectacular, but I don’t think I made such a reckless maneuver, from my perspective.”
“I was trying to regain a position from Pedro, who had misjudged turn 15. I saw an opportunity to overtake him in the final corner, but he clearly tried to defend his position after his poor exit. We were slightly to the right, outside the middle of the track, and we know that here in Qatar, when you stray from the ideal racing line, it's a bit of a lottery. I wasn't able to brake as I would have liked.”
"I can only apologize and try to avoid this happening again in future races. That's how it is: sometimes you make a mistake, sometimes you suffer the consequences ," he added.
"The race was difficult. The double long lap penalty didn't slow me down and I showed a good pace. Tomorrow I'll try to make up for it. Once again, I apologize to Pecco."
In summary: what information should we remember about Fermín Aldeguer after the sprint race of the Qatar Grand Prix?
- Fermín Aldeguer made a mistake and collided with Francesco Bagnaia, which earned him a double long lap penalty, which he served.
- The Gresini driver was just returning from injury and thus did not make the comeback he had hoped for.
- He apologized to the Ducati rider, who will nevertheless miss tomorrow's Grand Prix.
Results of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race :
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
