Raúl Fernández ‘s (Madrid, 10/23/2000) is proving to be a meteoric career. He made his World Championship debut with an invitation at the 2016 Valencia GP, finishing 11th. The following two seasons he contested three and four races, respectively, with a ninth place at Germany 2018 as his best result. In his second full year in the championship (2020) he achieved two victories and climbed to the podium four times, remaining 15 points behind the champion and making the jump to Moto2, an unexpected maneuver at the time. As much as it has been, after only one year in the intermediate class, his jump to MotoGP .
But his eight victories, an absolute record for a rookie, and twelve podium finishes in his first year in Moto2 guarantee his arrival in the premier class, despite the fact that he does so without having won any championship along the way, as great champions did before, such as Casey Stoner or Fabio Quartararo.
“Life goes by stages, there were people a year ago who told me that I was crazy to get up to Moto2 and look at the results I’ve obtained at the end,” explains Raúl Fernández in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com .
“In 2020 I was 15 points away from winning the Moto3 World Championship, this year I was only four away from the Moto2 title, I am being regular”, justifies the promotion.
“You have to look at the example of Fabio, who seeing his time in the other categories, without winning anything, people said he was crazy to get up to MotoGP, and today he is world champion and everyone applauds him. In the end, you are guided by what you feel and if everyone around me, my team, KTM and I have decided to be here today, it is because all of us, together, have believed that it is the best option for my sports career and my future.” , argues the new Tech3-KTM rider.
Although he does not consider that he has to justify his decision, Raúl does not escape the fact that everything is going very fast in his life and that he must assimilate the step taken.
“The truth is that I still can’t believe it, I see myself dressed in the colors of my new MotoGP team, something you always dream of, to get here, but it’s hard to assimilate,” he admits.
“When the lists of next year’s riders were published a few days ago and I saw myself next to names like Marc Márquez, Maverick, Aleix or Pol Espargaró, the truth is that you don’t believe it, it’s something very nice. I have to assimilate it and live it, and above all prepare myself very well. Everything I’ve done this year has been thinking about competing in Moto2. Neither physically nor psychologically have I prepared myself to compete next year in MotoGP”, he acknowledges.
In addition to Raúl, four other riders will arrive in MotoGP next season: Remy Gardner , Fabio Di Giannantonio , Marco Bezzecchi and Darryn Binder , so being the rookie of the year is already an ambitious goal for any of them.
The Madrilenian sketches a slight smile when asked if he has already started thinking about it.
“Yeah, sure… we all like to think about those things. The first objective is to fight with Remy and show, or see, who is the best in the same conditions”, he points out.
“This year he was fighting with an advantage that was the experience of having six seasons in Moto2, an experience that I lacked, and we have been fighting all year until the last corner of the last race. I think that is going to be my main objective: to beat my teammate and, above all, the boy with whom I played the World Cup until the last race, (Gardner) is going to be my main rival and first objective”, the boy points out. of San Martin de la Vega .