Fastest Fernandez fights back to seventh in Spain
intu Xanadú - ArroyomolinosIn front of a passionate Spanish crowd, Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez put on a charge in the qualification race to get back to seventh, showing superb speed and giving himself a lot of confidence as he heads into tomorrow’s GP-scoring motos.
In front of a passionate Spanish crowd, Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez put on a charge in the qualification race to get back to seventh, showing superb speed and giving himself a lot of confidence as he heads into tomorrow’s GP-scoring motos.
The practice sessions didn’t quite go to plan as the #70 wasn’t able to adapt to the rutted Arroyomolinos track, posting times which were in 16th and 11th positions after free and timed practice. This wasn’t ideal, but with the start-gate being a bit more open, it wasn’t so imperative to be on the inside and the Spanish rider showed that as the gate-dropped. Due to an injured rider, the qualification race was restarted when Ruben was sitting in fourth place, but after the second gate-drop he made his way into the top three by the time they rounded the first lap and was actually putting pressure on the leaders. However, as he was looking to pass into second, he got caught out just after the pitlane and crashed.
With the race still in the early stages, a lot of riders were able to get past and by the time he remounted, he was down in 15th place. Knowing that he had the support of this partisan crowd, he quickly started putting in impressive laptimes and making consistent passes every lap. As the qualification race counts for points this year, every position was important and with the clock ticking down, the Honda CRF450R rider’s laptimes also decreased, setting the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate lap as he passed the eighth-placed rider. This gave him four valuable points in the championship standings, closing the gap to the rider in front to just 16.
Seventh gate-pick also gives him a good chance in the races tomorrow to challenge with the top guys and fight it out for what would be his second podium of the season. It would also delight this Spanish crowd which should be even bigger, louder and more passionate for the two motos which will decide the sixth GP overall of the season.
It’s been a crazy day with all the fans supporting me and cheering for me and I’ve really enjoyed being around them all. On the track, it hasn’t been so easy and it took a bit of time to get to grips with this tricky track but I feel like I fought back well and even though I’d prefer to be much higher than seventh, my riding was good and it gives me a lot of confidence for tomorrow. A big thanks to the team for all their help and I am really excited to go out there and race again!
It’s been a crazy day with all the fans supporting me and cheering for me and I’ve really enjoyed being around them all. On the track, it hasn’t been so easy and it took a bit of time to get to grips with this tricky track but I feel like I fought back well and even though I’d prefer to be much higher than seventh, my riding was good and it gives me a lot of confidence for tomorrow. A big thanks to the team for all their help and I am really excited to go out there and race again!
A home GP can be difficult because of the extra pressure from the crowd and just wanting to do well, but I think Ruben has dealt with it all very well. He made a small mistake when trying to pass into second place in the qualification race, and that dropped him down to 15th, but he showed great speed, posting the fastest lap of the race to come back through the field and get into seventh. He showed that if he can get to the front off the start, he stands a really good chance of getting on the podium, which would just be great for him, the team, and for all his supporters here.
A home GP can be difficult because of the extra pressure from the crowd and just wanting to do well, but I think Ruben has dealt with it all very well. He made a small mistake when trying to pass into second place in the qualification race, and that dropped him down to 15th, but he showed great speed, posting the fastest lap of the race to come back through the field and get into seventh. He showed that if he can get to the front off the start, he stands a really good chance of getting on the podium, which would just be great for him, the team, and for all his supporters here.
