Raul Fernandez relieved to finish "important" Sepang test “destroyed”

After being injured at the Sepang MotoGP test in each of the past two seasons, Raul Fernandez was relieved to complete the 2026 event exhausted but otherwise unharmed.

The Trackhouse Aprilia rider, the surprise new winner of 2025, finished the three days in Malaysia tenth on the timesheets, 0.843s from leader Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati).

“After two years, when I didn't finish the first day, now I feel good to end the test feeling destroyed after three days,” Raul Fernandez smiled.

“It was a very important test because of the aerodynamic package, we have to be convinced about what we want before Thailand, because we will not have time to homologate another aero package.

“So about this I am really happy, because we decided on something that I like.”

But there are also other areas of the RS-GP to work on.

“I have some things that still I don't feel very comfortable on the bike with, so it means that we still have a lot of work to do,” he admitted.

“The worst part is the time attack, especially when we want to use the soft tyre to make a faster lap, I can't do it. I can't use well my riding style at this moment when there is maximum grip.

“So this is the work that we have to do now in Thailand, try to understand how we can take more potential with the soft tyre.”

Fortunately, Fernandez and Trackhouse don’t need to look far for ideas with factory star Marco Bezzecchi topping the MotoGP timesheets on the final afternoon and second overall to Alex Marquez.

“I think Aprilia made a really good job, and the bike is competitive again. As you see with Marco in the time attack, he was super fast,” Fernandez said.

“We need to know what they made during the test to try to improve in the time attack, because I think if we improve the time attack, the race pace is always there.”

Fernandez’s team-mate Ai Ogura set the twelfth fastest lap time.