Vision problems get Raúl Fernández off the bike in Mandalika

February 13, 2022

Mandalika.- The Spaniard went to the ground on Saturday as he passed through turn 12 of the Indonesian track, in one of the fastest turns on the track and when he was traveling at about 200 kilometers per hour. In the accident, the pilot of the Tech3 team violently hit his head on the ground, a circumstance that caused him a shock that momentarily affected his vision.

Upon getting up from the ground, Raúl Fernández began to see double, a feeling that subsided as the minutes went by, even though evidence of the blow remained on the left side of his forehead, in the form of a bruise.

On Sunday, the man from Madrid got back on his motorcycle after receiving the approval of the doctors from the circuit’s medical center, although after seven complete laps and an “inexplicable” fall, as he later acknowledged, he decided to end the preseason when he noticed that the vision problems reappeared.

“It is very rare, but I have no perception of speed. I do not see well. I have gone to see the doctors and they have told me to stop, that it was not safe for me to continue rolling”, Fernández declared. “The doctor put his finger in front of my face and moved it from side to side. I saw the finger, but the one behind, no, ”he described to Motorsport.com .

#25 had a good night and got up without apparent symptoms that led him to imagine what would come later. “I slept well, but when I put on the helmet I felt a lot of pressure on my head. It’s not worth continuing like this”, continued the runner-up in the Moto2 world, who will undergo another examination in the afternoon, before taking the plane that will take him back to Spain.

If the rookie was one of the sensations of the first collective test of this 2022, a week ago, in Malaysia, his sensations are not the best when leaving Indonesia, although that comes more from the different adverse circumstances he has suffered, than from your level of competitiveness or that of your bike.

“We have had a good winter. In Sepang we did more than 250 laps –between the shakedown and the three days of testing–, I feel good with the bike and with the team. Here we have not been able to do a single fast lap, but I compare myself with the factory bikes and I am with them. I am prepared”, remarked the runner, who will fly home and start training, waiting to see if his vision problems are reproduced, and in that case he will visit a specialist.

Raúl Fernández, KTM Tech3