Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez competed within the Australian Grand Prix with out an aerodynamic package deal on his Aprilia MotoGP bike and felt like he was “flying”.
As a result of disruptive affect of the highly effective winds on the seaside observe, the Phillip Island circuit is the one one on the MotoGP calendar at which riders are allowed to run with out aero.
Fernandez and Aprilia’s satellite tv for pc Trackhouse group took benefit of this level within the rules to take away the aero parts from the bike and take off all of the wings from the fairing for the races in Australia.
Whereas Fernandez’s grand prix was spoilt by a poor begin from an encouraging sixth place on the grid, he was thrilled by the feeling and efficiency of driving ‘wingless’ across the flowing Phillip Island observe.
It was one thing the Spanish rider had by no means tried since his arrival within the premier class three years in the past.
“We tried it yesterday [Saturday] and it went very nicely,” he defined after the grand prix on Sunday. “That is the one observe on this planet championship the place you’re allowed to take away the wings, due to the extraordinary wind.”
Following the poor begin on Sunday, Fernandez was swallowed up by the pack and dropped to thirteenth place after the primary lap.
He progressively labored his approach as much as ninth, which he misplaced to Fabio Quartararo within the remaining a part of the race earlier than crossing the road tenth.
However regardless of the disappointing outcome, he had solely good issues to say about his velocity through the race.
“Working with out the wings was actually good, I used to be actually flying. The sensation was unbelievable,” he described.
“I had by no means ridden with out wings, it was very good. Aprilia [trusted me] and I provided myself as a guinea pig to make a superb bike. I had a good time, it has been a very long time since I’ve felt a motorcycle like this.
“I feel I had the tempo to complete fourth. I used to be catching the group forward of me on the finish, so I used to be pleased with our tempo and I feel we did a superb job.
“We held the hole to Fabio Di Giannantonio’s group. We had the identical tempo and on the finish we have been even sooner.
“We talked about [the idea] with the group on Saturday and determined to do it. And the reality is that it has been superb for us to gather knowledge for subsequent yr.
“The [experiment] was a bit loopy, however we bought some good conclusions. The true pity, essentially the most annoying factor, is to lose so many positions at first.
“Principally we’ve got to grasp what we’ve got to do to begin nicely, as a result of that is the important thing in MotoGP. Now we have a whole lot of wheelie and when that occurs you can’t use the facility. I’ve to shut the throttle.”
Fernandez additionally suffered a poor begin within the dash race, dropping to eleventh on the finish of lap one. He recovered to complete seventh, which turned sixth when di Giannantonio was penalised for a tyre strain infringement on his VR46 Ducati.
