Augusto Fernández was 19th for the first significant day of the Gran Premio Red Bull di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on Italy’s east coast.
AF37 continues his pattern of relentless improvement during the GP weekend but hits a rear tire traction glitch during the Sprint and finishes 19th.
Sun, blue sky, sea air: welcome to the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, and a flat, fast, curvy and grippy racetrack full of San Marino coastline flavor. GASGAS were keen for more MotoGP impact for the second Grand Prix in a row and the penultimate race to take place on European soil this season. Large groups of fans soaked up temperatures that touched 30 degrees and almost 90 Fahrenheit but the Adriatic asphalt offered bucketloads of traction and a complete contrast to the conditions in Barcelona last weekend.
In Q1 Fernández was half a second from making the cut and classified 7th (giving him 17th on the grid).
Augusto went into the Sprint with a good feeling from Free Practice 2 but was limited in his options due to a lack of rear wheel grip that the team want to rectify for the full 27-lap rush tomorrow.
Augusto Fernández, 17th in qualifying, 19th in the Sprint:
“I expected to be a bit better because I felt good in practice this morning and I made a huge step from yesterday and the lap-time was competitive. I was happy and wanted another step forwards in the Sprint but actually went a bit backwards in terms of feeling. I had very low grip on the rear tire and we need to analyze why. Hopefully we can fix it and make that step tomorrow.”
