2023 is a fresh chapter in the career of Raul Fernandez. The 2021 Moto2™ record-breaker endured a tough debut MotoGP™ campaign with KTM, but the Spaniard is already feeling positive and enjoying himself after four days on RNF MotoGP™ Team’s Aprilia RS-GP.
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Having taken the title fight all the way to the final round in his rookie intermediate class season, Fernandez came into MotoGP™ last year as a tantalising prospect. However, both he and 2021 Moto2™ World Champion Remy Gardner couldn’t gel with KTM’s tricky RC16. The top two in that incredible Moto2™ title race have since moved onto pastures new; Gardner is now in WorldSBK with Yamaha, while Fernandez bids to rediscover his mojo with Aprilia.
And by the sounds of it, that’s exactly what is beginning to happen. Speaking to motogp.com during the Sepang Test, Fernandez admitted that he’s enjoying riding a motorcycle for the first time since 2021, while the RNF MotoGP™ Team feels like “home”.
“It was like my first time [one the bike] because in Valencia it was really difficult, I had a lot of pain. Anyway, the first 10 laps were difficult but I am really happy, I feel like I’m at home. I’m super comfortable, also with Aprilia give us good support and I am really happy,” said Fernandez, who won eight races in his 2021 Moto2™ rookie season, one more than Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) did in 2011.
“I’ve started to enjoy myself on the bike for the first time since 2021, and that’s our job now, to try and enjoy and believe more in me and the team because when you have a difficult year, it’s difficult to have this feeling.
“It’s all coming this year. With the Aprilia I feel really good and especially with the team I believe in them a lot and I think they believe in me and we work very well together.”
RNF MotoGP™ Team Manager Wilco Zeelenberg also spoke to us during the Sepang Test, and likened Fernandez’s situation to 2021 MotoGP™ World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™).
“As you know we wanted to have Raul in our team already last year and we weren’t able to do so, and he was disappointed about that, us too, but that happened and he’s back with his former crew chief and he’s seen the Aprilia last year as well,” began Zeelenberg.
“He thought the bike looks to be good, everything is a little bit more relaxed and he has the things that he wanted to have. The talent he never lost, he clearly struggled last year but we had the same with Fabio. Fabio we knew was really talented but it didn’t come out, but when we put him on a MotoGP bike and he felt comfortable with his crew chief, with the team and he could build up, take his time, finally he won the Championship. So this is clearly the aim we have with both of our riders.”
Zeelenberg refers to when RNF, formally Petronas Yamaha SRT, signed Quartararo for 2019. We saw glimpses of the double Junior World Champion’s potential on a Moto2™ bike, most notably his dominant win in Barcelona, but it wasn’t until he landed in MotoGP™ that we saw just how good El Diablo was. Quartararo won Rookie of the Year after claiming seven podiums in 2019 before going on to win the 2021 title.
Will it be a similar story with Raul Fernandez? It’s a hard question to both ask and answer at this stage, but early indications suggest that Fernandez has found a place where he feels comfortable. A glance at the combined standings from the three days in Malaysia shows Fernandez in P11, under half a second away from Aprilia stalwart Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing). That’s a very promising start.