Raul Fernandez is a different man and perhaps also a different rider since he has the assurance of a future after his KTM period. This brought him 10 Grand Prix victories, including 8 in Moto2, and it also allowed his younger brother Adrian to perform at a high level in Moto3 without otherwise convincing. His local boss Hervé Poncharal sees genuine talent in the Spaniard but his transfer to the RC16 was marked by rejection, to speak only of this aspect of his tumultuous history. This will resume with Aprilia in 2023, and Miguel Oliveira's future teammate, also from the KTM family, is impatient to climb the RS-GP...
The metamorphosis of Raul fernandez since signing his contract with Aprilia to join the satellite team of the brand that will be RNF was noticed by Hervé Poncharal at the end of a San Marino Grand Prix in Misano, which he finished in 13th place: “ Raul ran a regular and faultless race », greeted the Frenchman. “ In the second half of the race, he achieved the same lap times as Miguel Oliveira. It was by far Raul's best race in MotoGP ". And he adds: “ the fact that KTM released him from his contract for 2023 at Spielberg made Raul more carefree. It clearly helped him. We still have six races ahead of us. I hope we can get even closer to the best teams ».
For his part, the pilot of 21 years old does not hide his enthusiasm for his new employers and the new project: “ I am very grateful to Massimo Rivola and Razlan Razali for giving me the opportunity to continue riding in MotoGP » he said clearly, thus recalling the impasse in which he found himself. “ The new task at Aprilia is very interesting for me. The fact that Miguel Oliveira will have the same material as me again next year makes me curious. We will then work together on the same project as Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró. I'm really happy that the time in Razlan's team went well. It's going to be exciting ».
Raul Fernandez: “ I haven't talked to Aleix and Maverick about their bikes yet, I'm 100% focused on my work at Tech3-KTM »
Not insisting on the fact that at RNF he will have, with the Portuguese quadruple winner in MotoGP, a 2022 version of the RS-GP, while the two official riders will ride with the 2023 opus, Raul fernandez add on speedweek : " If I look at Maverick Viñales' season, he got used to the Aprilia quite quickly. He quickly developed a good feeling with the bike and achieved good results. He's having an incredible year and managed the transition perfectly ».
However, we must end this campaign while still respecting the fact that he is still on a KTM : “ this season has been quite difficult for me. For various reasons, we did not achieve the expected results. Now we work together to achieve the best possible results in the remaining races. I want to finish the year at the maximum level and do my best as always. Until the end ". The Spaniard concludes: “ I haven't talked to Aleix and Maverick about their bikes yet, I'm 100% focused on my work at Tech3-KTM ».
