ROOKIE AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ TAKES P13 ON FIRST DAY OF GERMAN GRAND PRIX AT THE SACHSENRING

Back at the ring! June’s festivities continued with round seven of 2023 at the Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland, held at the iconic left-handed Sachsenring. GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez and Jonas Folger were both looking for a positive start to their new race week at the German Grand Prix, after leaving Mugello with mixed feelings last Sunday. Practice 1 under the sun, practice 2 under the clouds – the MotoGP™ class danced on raindrops today, with no wet session despite the rain early afternoon.

Augusto Fernandez was hitting the Sachsenring in MotoGP™ for the first time this morning, after he won the race last season in Moto2™. The 3.760 km layout is one that he has always enjoyed, and his lap times reflected quickly his rather pronounced taste for the German layout. In Practice 1, the adaptation to the Sachsenring seemed to go well, as he registered his fastest time in the early laps of the session, in 1’22.172. However, he later on struggled a bit with his bike's settings, and did not lower his lap times. All the riders were very close (sixteen of them were less than one second from the fastest lap), and Augusto ranked in nineteenth, just 1'470 seconds away from this morning’s fastest man. The early afternoon rain left the track a bit humid, but the session was dry for the main class. The rookie pulled out an impressive Practice 2 today, his best of 2023 so far, by taking his lap times down to 1’20.818. At one point, he was provisionally in the Q2 spots, before the final time attacks pushed him out of the top 10. He completed the day in P13, a very encouraging result for Augusto Fernandez at the Sachsenring who will head into Saturday with the potential to go to Q2.

German Jonas Folger was back on a MotoGP™ bike at the Sachsenring for the first time since 2017, but this time under the red colours of the GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 team. Filling in for injured Pol Espargaro for the fifth round in a row, the number 94 rode his fastest lap in 1’22.818 this morning. In the one-hour Practice 2 later on, the local boy continued to work, trying to find solutions to his different issues encountered in the previous rounds. He did not manage to take his lap time down as his fastest lap got cancelled because he had already passed the checkered flag, and his best of the morning placed him twentieth in the combined standings at the end of the day. GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3’s duo will return to action tomorrow with Super Saturday awaiting the German fans: the qualifying sessions will kick off at 10:50 local time (GMT+2) shortly after Free Practice. In the afternoon, Fernandez and Folger will line up on the grid for the Tissot Sprint, at 15:00 LT, set to be full of surprises. Don’t miss it!

Position: 13^th

Time: 1'20.818

Laps: 37

"Our bike's setting this morning was not on point, so we lacked something in Practice 1. With the rain scheduled for the afternoon, I was a bit scared, but fortunately, I felt really strong immediately in the P2. I tried to follow a few good riders to try to learn from them, about their tricks, and we were into a really good rhythm. I am very close to the top 10, which is very positive for me. Even if we are getting closer to the other riders, we are still having some difficulties on the time attacks. We know that there is potential to go to Q2, so we will do everything we can to do so tomorrow morning.”

Position: 20^th

Time: 1'22.818

Laps: 41

"I am pretty happy with our first day at the Sachsenring. I did my fastest lap in my last lap, but I had unfortunately already passed the checkered flag, which I did not see. It was a 1’22 low lap which was not registered, but it gives me confidence because we made a step, and we have potential to continue improving tomorrow. There were a lot of crashes today, so tomorrow it will be important to be careful and finish the Sprint."

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