GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 helped turn up the heat at an already steamy Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini as both Pol Espargaro and Augusto Fernández put their GASGAS RC16s into the mix. Augusto pushed to the edge for 16th place as Pol went beyond and suffered a DNF.
GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 responded well from some Saturday morning qualifying adversity to create promising signs in the afternoon Saturday Sprint. Both Augusto Fernández were clear on their set-up and goals for the 27-laps on Sunday; watched by a noisy and expectant 79,000 crowd.
The red light dipped at 14.00 CEST and the ‘red’ got going as Espargaro started his fourth GP since returning from injury with relish and Fernández hunted improved rear grip in his bid to infiltrate the top ten of the world’s fastest motorcycle racing elite once more. Augusto’s efforts were held back by tricky opening laps but after that early anguish he knuckled down and pushed all the way to 16th.
Augusto Fernández, 16th:
“A hard one. My start was good but then the first lap was a disaster; everything I did was wrong and I lost a lot of positions. Also, with the full tank I couldn’t overtake and get out of that situation. After some time I found some fresh air and then Brad [Binder] crashed and he was with me. He had a different pace. I tried everything to stay with him and I did it. My lap-times were good. Overall, it’s a bad result and a shame not to get points but there are a few positives that we can analyze from being on that limit. Let’s see what we can find out tomorrow at the test.”
