Mechanical fault forced Raul Fernandez to retire: “I can’t comment on that”

Eighth place in the MotoGP Sprint at Aragon was not the result Raul Fernandez had been hoping for. Still, he managed to pick up two World Championship points on Saturday. Things started well for the Trackhouse rider in Sunday’s Grand Prix. He got off to a good start from fourth on the grid and managed to stay within the top six. However, on the sixth lap, he was forced to head for the pits due to a technical fault with his Aprilia and had to retire.

“We’re a team and we have to be satisfied with our work. This morning we tried out a set-up that made me feel good again. We were better prepared than we were for Saturday’s race,” the Spaniard reported during the subsequent media session. “In the first three laps I had no problems and I felt competitive. We were on the right track. That’s part and parcel of motor racing; things like this can happen. Now we have to focus on Italy.”

Fernandez was unwilling or unable to reveal exactly what the problem was with his RS-GP. “Sorry, I can’t say. But it was a mechanical problem – we’re still trying to work out what happened,” was his brief reply when asked.

Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

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Jorge Martin

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Fans

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Marc Márquez

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Start des Rennens

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Marco Bezzecchi

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Moreira und Bastianini

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Marc Márquez

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Pecco Bagnaia

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Alex Márquez

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Fabio Di Giannantonio

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Pedro Acosta

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Brad Binder

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Fermin Aldeguer

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Marc Márquez und Pedro Acosta

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Jorge Martin

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Marc Márquez gewinnt das Rennen

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Pedro Acosta, Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi

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Sieger Marc Márquez

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Willkommen zum Rennen in Aragón

© Gold & Goose

Fernandez: “A realistic aim was that I could have battled with Jorge or perhaps even with Alex”

So Fernandez was denied a good result. The points would have been important in the title race. “A podium would have been difficult. A realistic aim was that I could have battled with Jorge (Martin) or perhaps even with Alex (Márquez). But you can never tell,” mused the 25-year-old. “But what I know for sure is this: on Saturday I had a very bad feeling on the bike, but on Sunday I felt competitive again and I was on the right track. I’ll take the positives from this and we need to focus on the next event.”

For Trackhouse Aprilia, the Aragon Grand Prix was a disappointment. Fernández scored just two World Championship points, and Ai Ogura had to sit out the race weekend in Spain due to his thumb injury. Stand-in rider Lorenzo Savadori finished 19th and 17th. The action continues in two weeks’ time with the Grand Prix at Misano. Raul Fernandez is keen to go on the attack there. It remains to be seen whether his team-mate Ogura will be back in action in Italy.