Aprilia: Raul Fernandez? “P6 a good result, but he could expect a podium”
Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola said Raul Fernandez “had the pace to stay with Fermin” in the Indonesian MotoGP, but didn't exploit his podium speed.
With half of Aprilia’s MotoGP line-up sidelined by injuries, Raul Fernandez did an excellent job of backing up Marco Bezzecchi’s Sprint win by claiming his first MotoGP rostrum.
Fernandez also looked well placed for a debut Trackhouse GP top-three in Sunday’s main grand prix race.
Bezzecchi’s early elimination, after colliding with Marc Marquez, then left Fernandez as Aprilia’s sole contender on a weekend where the RS-GP appeared the strongest overall package.
It also meant one of the two riders ahead of Fernandez on Saturday was no longer a factor. The other was Fermin Aldeguer.
But while the rookie surged from third to first, Fernandez became embroiled in a big multi-rider battle and couldn’t unleash his potential.
Fernandez escaped to a dominant debut victory, while Fernandez was on the back of Pedro Acosta and the final podium place with a handful of laps to go.
The KTM rider then passed Alex Marquez and finished runner-up to Aldeguer.
However, Fernandez went in the other direction, losing out to Brad Binder and Luca Marini to cross the finish line in sixth.
“If I look at the beginning of the race, Raul had the pace, if he was in front, to stay with Fermin,” said Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola.
“[He couldn’t] find the place to attack and overtake - when he tried it… he didn’t do it in a clean way. He had contact with Luca [Marini] and then went long in Turn 10.
“P6 is a good result, but according to the performance he had, a podium is something he could expect as the speed was really good.”
Fernandez admitted the result left him a little deflated.
“We need to find something to… improve overtaking. I’m not entirely happy because the pace in the race was actually pretty slow and I think we had more,” he said.
Team principal Davide Brivio concurred: “For sure, it has been a fun race. We enjoyed seeing Raul fighting.
“Of course, P6 is a positive result, but, overall, for how the race has developed we could have done a little bit better.
“If someone had told me before we came here that we would be sixth, I would have been happy, but today I’m not completely happy.”
In this article
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
Joining Crash.net in 2021 as an Editor for the Indonesian Edition, Derry oversees most of the Indonesian articles on the site.
