Brake problem leaves Aprilia rider “frustrated” at Japanese MotoGP

An apparent brake problem left Raul Fernandez “frustrated” at the Japanese MotoGP as he missed out on a direct Q2 spot.

Fernandez ended Practice 13th-fastest, leaving him in Q1 tomorrow along with his team-mate Ai Ogura whose primary bike expired early on in the afternoon session, bringing out the red flags.

For Fernandez, the underperformance in Practice was down to a brake problem, he revealed afterwards, which came at a poor time as the Spaniard felt he had been able to make improvements in what had been a “critical” area for him at the previous race in Austria.

“To be honest I feel super-happy,” Raul Fernandez said after MotoGP Practice at Motegi.

“I think we improved a lot. The critical point for us before coming here was acceleration; I think we are in the good way because I feel much more comfortable and I think we improved a lot in this area. 

“I think during the day we made a very good job because we had to understand both rear tyres, we had also to manage very well the front one because the one that normally we are using, here we have just five. So, it’s difficult to make a good plan, but I’m happy with the job.

“For me, the big problem was that on the time attack I had some problem with the brake and I was wide, I was not really constant on the brakes. 

“So, I’m a little bit frustrated because today we had everything to be in Q2 directly, but for some reason I didn’t feel really comfortable with the brake – I think it was not really constant and I was wide too many times during the lap. 

“I think for tomorrow we are ready, we understand well the rear tyre, I think it’s just to pull everything together and try to make the lap time.”

Fernandez said that the improvements he made to his feeling overall were found ahead of the weekend, as well as between FP1 and Practice.

For that he had his team to thank. Before Saturday, they must now diagnose the brake issue he found in Practice.

“I have to say congrats to all the engineers because they were working so well yesterday and between FP1 and Practice they spent [a lot of] time trying to understand which was the worst point for me because in FP1 I didn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable,” the Trackhouse Aprilia rider said.

“But in Practice I think we made one step, or two steps that now we are competitive in this area. 

“Now for me it’s just understand why we had so many problems with the brake and try to find a solution for tomorrow.”