Augusto Fernández did not have luck on his side at the beginning of the MotoGP tests in Qatar. This Monday, the Red Bull GasGas Tech3 rider suffered a crash near the end and, before that, was reduced to one bike due to engine damage on one of his KTM RC16s. He finished in 20th position on the leaderboard.
The #37 mentioned to the press that, despite the misfortunes he had, he ended up drawing positive conclusions from this Monday: ‘I have to say that we didn’t have the best of luck because I had a crash in turn one and destroyed the bike, so I couldn’t attack the clock with soft tires. And also on the third outing of the day, we had an engine failure, so we worked with only one bike. Things went like this, but I am very happy with the work we did in the garage. We recovered all the sensations, my riding, everything. We did a good job; obviously, coming from where I come from, it’s not in one day that we’ll get there. But I feel the bike, I feel everything, I feel that everyone is working well. So now it depends on me. I had a crash at the end, as I said, which didn’t help… in the end, it’s only for the time sheets, but we know the work we did and we understand where we are, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow’.
About the crash he suffered, Fernández explained: ‘I lost the front in turn one, very early. It was a bit strange, but it was on a tire with 21 laps, so very old. That’s why… also with the soft front tire and 20 laps, it’s not ideal, but it was the work we wanted to do. So we understand everything and it happened. It’s a shame because we lost the attack on the clock, but we have tomorrow‘.
Questionado sobre si hay más progresos que en Sepang, el español confirmó: ‘Sí. Y también ser competitivo durante todo el día más o menos al ritmo. Es obvio que depende del tiempo en pista y de cómo gestionas los neumáticos. Pero como dije, hicimos un buen trabajo. Estamos ahí. También estoy entendiendo lo que me falta. Hay trabajo por hacer para mañana, pero estamos en el camino’.
En cuanto a las condiciones de la pista, Fernández comentó: ‘Tengo que decir que estaba sucia y ventosa en la primera parte de la tarde, pero se limpió muy rápidamente y ahora por la noche estaba bien. Ves los tiempos, no son muy malos. Así que mañana creo que serán más rápidos’.
