MotoGP Japan J1, Raul Fernandez (Aprilia/18): “I don’t see how the new technical director can lead to an improvement”

This weekend in Japan, Raul Fernandez is accompanied by Lorenzo Savadori under the awning of the Trackhouse Racing stand. Miguel Oliveira’s injury was serious, and the Portuguese may be forced to miss the entire end of the season. A shame, especially since Fernandez is experiencing all the trouble in the world adapting to his Aprilia RS-GP24 that he has been riding since Silverstone. On the asphalt of Motegi, the Spaniard could not do better than 18th at the end of Practice. Times are tough, and look even darker due to the defection of the firm’s historic technical director…

It was a fairly pessimistic Raul Fernandez who presented himself to journalists this Friday. In Motegi, it’s not just the weather that’s cool. « Today I was really slow. It’s very difficult. We need to understand why we struggle so much on Friday, we can’t do a time trial. Normally, we find solutions and I manage to fight for Q2 on Saturday morning, but that poses a problem because you have to be in the game from the first practice session. Improvements should arrive on Friday, not Saturday.
We’ll have to be ready, and I’m talking about myself as well as the whole team » he explained to the GPOne microphones. Firm words that fit with his more than competitive state of mind.

The big news of the day is the departure of Aprilia technical director Romano Albesiano to Honda. In return, the Noale firm recovers the former technical director of KTM Fabiano Cerlacchini. News that leaves Raul Fernandez quite skeptical. « The number of engineers changing teams is simply mind-boggling. I think only Dall’Igna will stay in his place. It’s hard to accept Romano’s goodbyes, I had a good relationship with him and he did a good job » he clarified.

Photo :
Michelin Motorsport

Even more, Raul Fernandez implied that his replacement may not be as well equipped for the position. “I am really saddened because he is one of the people who made this Aprilia project grow. I have already been able to work with Fabiano at KTM, and I don’t see how this could lead to an improvement. » he concluded sarcastically.

What do you think of his comments regarding his future technical director? Tell us in the comments!

Practice result at the 2024 MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix: