The Yamaha Factory Racing Team used the Grand Prix of San Marino Sunday to collect more valuable dry-track data at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Wild-card entry Augusto Fernández completed the 27-lap MotoGP Race and rode the V4-Powered Prototype to a 14th place across the finish line.
The Yamaha Factory Racing Team completed their San Marino GP V4-Powered Prototype testing programme in today’s MotoGP Race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. Though the goal was to gather data over a full race distance, the team wrote history. Wild-card entry Augusto Fernández wrapped up the 27-lap contest in 14th place, scoring two points in the Yamaha V4-Powered Prototype’s first ever full-length MotoGP Race.
Augusto Fernández started from P22 and climbed as high as 19th early on, but he soon received a double long-lap penalty for a jump start. This made the Misano Race a less exciting ride for him overall, but the wild card kept busy by focusing on gathering good data for bike development purposes and analysing the sensations on the new bike. Though Somkiat Chantra came charging in the final stages, Augusto Fernández had enough left in the tank to hold his position to the finish line. With seven riders failing to make it to the chequered flag overall, he crossed the finish line in 14th place, 1’01.504s from first.
Today’s results see Augusto Fernández in joint-24th place in the championship standings with 8 points, and Yamaha is in 5th position in the constructor championship with 168 points.
AUGUSTO FERNÁNDEZ – Yamaha Factory Racing Test Rider
“Today we did 27 laps in race pace on the new prototype bike, and we have a lot of work to do now to understand everything better. We need to be patient, because it’s not our time yet, but the potential is there. It was our first race, and we got some points. This weekend was a good start to the ‘real’ development process based on races. We are looking to create consistency, because when I have a good feeling on this new bike, it’s already better than on the other one. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow with Fabio and Álex testing the prototype and go from there.”