Augusto Fernández made his MotoGP debut last year and showed progress and good results – including a fourth place in the French GP. He ended up with 71 points and 17th place in the championship, having been without the reference of experienced teammate Pol Espargaró for several months when he was injured in the second practice of the season.
This year, Fernández continues with Red Bull GasGas with a KTM RC16 and improvements are expected. Team manager Nicolas Goyon told the press: ‘It is certain that we had a good first year. We want to see improvements. I did some statistics and between the debut year and the second year, you can expect a 200 percent improvement. So, let’s say he scored 71 points last year and if he improves according to the average rider between year 1 and year 2, it could be something around 200 points. It won’t be easy, we have many fast riders and bikes that you need to keep behind you. But this is a goal. I think if he continues to follow this statistic, there will certainly be no reason for us not to keep him‘.
From KTM’s side, the sports director does not set specific goals in terms of results, but expects to see great progress from Fernández: ‘He did such a good job as a rookie. Everyone remembers the highlight of the season in Le Mans. But also the whole scenario, how he acted, how positive he was, how much he believed in the project and started asking the right questions to the technicians – because in the beginning it is always difficult for a Moto2 rider to jump to the MotoGP bike. They don’t know what to ask because they are overwhelmed by everything. And you have so many possibilities to influence the bike by asking different things about the electronics and you have so many possibilities of the physical components and the aspect of the electronics to choose from that it is difficult for a rider. And he was quite professional in doing all that. He learned every day, he remained positive, he worked hard and scored in so many races’.
After a good debut year, the Austrian expects even better from #37: ‘He did great, so I feel that going into the second year there will definitely be another big step. We definitely need to work on the qualities for Sprint races, so we hope he adds some points in the new season and then stabilizes a little more. I expect some progress. In MotoGP we can’t ask for shortcuts and make crazy jumps, but I’m sure he is working so hard that he will simply take the next logical step, and I believe it will be good this year’.
