Raul Fernandez: ‘2024 bike won’t be one-second faster’

Raul Fer♌nandez signs off his 2023-spec Aprilia career with tenth in Germany, RS-GP24 debut next time at Silveꦑrstone.

Raul Fernandez, 2024 German MotoGP
Raul Fernandez, 2024 German MotoGP

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Raul Fernandez is keeping a lid on his expectations ahead of an upgrade to the 2024 Aprilia RS-GP from the next MotoGP round at Silverstone.

The Trackhouse rider has been the only𓆏 Aprilia competitor 🌳left on the 2023-spec machine this season.

But that hasn’t st🏅opped him from qualifying on the front row twice, in Catal🦹unya and Germany.

Barcelona saw Fernandez fall from the lead of the Sprint, then claim sixth in the race, b🐷ut his strong qualifying counted for far less at the Sachsenring.

Rising front tyre pressure saw Fernandez drop to 14th in the Sprint, before completing his final r🦹ace on the RS-GP23 with tenth in the grand prix.

“There was a mistake… For some reason it was not the correct pressure to get the maximum potential of the tyre,” Fernandez said on Saturday evening. “But we are a team, we win or lose together and al♚so they gave me a good bike to qualify on the front row.”

But rear tyre grip proved the limiting factor in t▨he g🥀rand prix.

For the first 15 laps I was there, fighting with all the Ducatis 🎉and Miguel,” said Fernandez, who was directly behind Oliveira in eighth during the middle stages.

“But the last 15 laps to the end I h𓄧ad a lot of problem with the tyre. It is also [to do with] the [2023] bike. The pace was quite slow. But anꦿyway, I did the maximum and we finished the top ten.

“I had𝐆 a nice fight with Pedro, Brad and Marco. But I didn’t have ꦿanything to try to overtake them. But always when you fight with the people like them you always can improve.”

Fernandez now looks to the future and a race debut 🔜on the 2024 RS-GP.

Although his engine spec will be unchanged, due to the homologation rules, Fernandez (like Oliveira) 🍷is expecꦆted to receive a new 2024 mid-season aero update for the British GP.

But performance-wise, he doesn’t expect a night-an𝔍d-day difference.

“It is not one second faster,” Fernandez said of the ’24 bike, which he briefly tried at the Jerez test in Apr🐬il. "But maybe when we h𓆉ad to save the tyre, with the new bike it's easier.

“I tried it in just one test🥂 for two runs, so I don't know what I can expect. [But] surely, if Aprilia have this new bike it’s because they saw something positive.

“Also the lap times compared w🍎ith last year ar🐷e quite strong. So yeah, I believe that the [new] bike is a little bit better [but] for sure it’s not one second faster.”

Oliveira’s strong Sachsenring weeke💧nd means he has now leapfrogged ahead of Fernandez for 13th in the riders’ standings. Both are yet to sign for 2025.

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