After partnering with the privateer RNF team, Aprilia will manage the Razlan Razali structure from next season and will do so with a completely new rider line-up, including Miguel Oliveira and young Spaniard Raúl Fernández.
After a year at Tech3-KTM in which he has not been able to demonstrate the quality he treasures, Fernández will have an opportunity at the handlebars of a motorcycle that this year is working in the hands of Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales,
However, the Spanish did not want to extend too much about this good news.
“You have to be professional and finish the season in the best possible way. It is true that I am happy and happy to be able to continue in MotoGP next year, but before that we have to finish well, both for myself and for the team and KTM. We all want to give one hundred percent and get the best results. With six races remaining to finish the season, I can’t be thinking about next year, I have to focus on the weekend,” the Madrid native avoided the issue.
The truth is that those responsible for KTM said that Raúl asked to leave the team already in Jerez, so that, from the beginning, the rider did not see a future with this manufacturer.
“Is that what he said? I stay away from these things, I just get on the bike and give one hundred percent,” he shied away again.
“I always try to give one hundred percent, but it’s true that for whatever reason I’m not going fast, and that’s something I don’t understand. I don’t get off the bike like I did last year (when he won 8 races and was runner-up Moto2), but I’m calm because I always give it my all. Last year I was always ahead and now I’m not over 20. It’s difficult to manage because I do the same, but surely it’s a binomial that doesn’t work or I haven’t been able to adapt to the bike”, in reference to the RC16.
Although KTM finally unraveled the situation to allow him to leave the team and join Aprilia, the situation was tricky until the end, so much so that it seemed that he was left without a bike.
“Yes, yes, absolutely. You think that you are going home, that you are left without a motorcycle, but once you put on your helmet and you have to give everything you have, you always go through difficult times, unfortunately it is the order of the day , and there are times when you can lose your bike. Luckily I always give what I have and luckily other brands have noticed me and I have had the privilege of continuing in MotoGP for another year”.
Nobody doubts Raúl’s talent and quality, after this year to forget at KTM, going to Aprilia with a bike that is working leaves him with little margin for error in 2023. “I will give one hundred percent every time I go out on the track, like this year, and we’ll see what happens”, settles the one from San Martín de la Vega.
