“My mistake”: Cause of Raul Fernandez’s lack of Misano MotoGP pace revealed
Raul Fernandez says his poor result in Misano MotoGP Practice was his own fault, not down to the bike.
Silverstone MotoGP winner Raul Fernandez was only 12th-fastest in Practice at the Misano MotoGP, which he says was his own fault.
The result, of course, means Fernandez will be forced to go through Q1 tomorrow in qualifying, while the other two Aprilias (Ai Ogura is absent again this weekend and not replaced by Trackhouse) were inside the top-10.
Fernandez admitted afterwards that the position was not what he and Trackhouse Aprilia “expected”, but also that the poor result was “my mistake”.
“For sure it is not the result that we expected, but it was my mistake today,” said Raul Fernandez after MotoGP Practice at Misano.
“I was all the Practice in the top-six, top-seven, but in the last run I made two or three mistakes in the last two or three laps that I couldn’t improve my time. So, it was my mistake.
“For sure, also the feeling is not the one I expected, also I think that the change that we made between FP1 and Practice doesn’t help my riding style.”
Fernandez added that the improvements will come from himself more than from the bike: “I think it’s more my job than the bike’s. In some corners I am not in the line that I need to turn the bike, so it’s more my job.
“The good thing is I have a really good data from Marco [Bezzecchi] – for sure I will study it tonight and for tomorrow I will try to find a solution in terms of lines because I think it’s more my lines than the bike.”
Misano is perhaps best known for its high-speed turn 11 and the sequence of slowing right-handers it sets up, but Fernandez’s problems were more apparent in the tight corners in the first part of the lap.
“Especially in the first sector I am not taking the good line in the first corner and it doesn’t heal until the back straight,” he said.
“So, there I think is the compromise that I need to find for tomorrow.”
He added: “In the fast ones, for example in the fast part of the track I am second in the sector three.
“So, I feel good, but where I have more problems is the first and second sector.
It’s a consequence of the first and second corners.
“It is more my line, so I need to be calm.
“The good thing is when you get good results, you know that if you have everything under control and you have calm, everything will come again.
“So I believe that tomorrow everything will come easier than today.”
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
