GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 formed part of a gripping SHARK Grand Prix de France for a massive and electric crowd wedged into the Le Mans circuit. Round five of the 2023 series was packed with drama through 27-laps and when the flag was waved Augusto Fernandez blasted past in a brilliant 4th position in just his fifth MotoGP outing.
Augusto Fernandez set the tone for a promising French Grand Prix with solid top ten pace in Practice on Friday and then automatic Q2 ranking for the quali run on Saturday. The rookie parked the GASGAS RC16 12th on the grid in just his fifth appearance in the class and aimed for more points and progress through the Grand Prix distance on a sunny Sunday.
The MotoGP field thundered into life at 14.00 and in front of a noisy and passionate crowd that filled all of the banks and seats around the famous old course and for the World Championship’s 1000th Grand Prix. Fernandez was keen and fiery in the opening laps and slid into the top seven before incidents and accidents started to put fans on the edge of their seat. Augusto was consistent and brave, keeping ahead of Aleix Espargaro to cross the line only six seconds behind the winner and 1.5 seconds from a maiden MotoGP trophy.
Jonas Folger made his way to 13th and pulled his GASGAS RC16 into play even though he was sore after his crash on Saturday. The German avoided the carnage around him and gave the team a double points-score at their home event.
Mugello next! The wonderful sprawl and speed of the Italian circuit in the Tuscan hills will stage round six and the Gran Premio D’Italia Oakley on June 10-11.
Augusto Fernandez, 4th: “I’m so happy. After the quali I had the crash in the Sprint and then also in Warm-up so I was missing some confidence but I knew I had the pace to fight for something in the race nice. I wasn’t expecting this though! I made the right choice with the front tire and I want to thank the team for all their work, not only here but all season, and we are going in the right direction, so let’s keep pushing.”
Jonas Folger, 13th: “Final day of the GP and I’m happy to get some points but I was hoping for better pace. I was struggling again a bit at the start, with the new tires, and by the end I’m improving my lap–time which is a bit strange but I will use the next test to look at this. I’m happy to have raced here and to be with the team. I’d like to thank everybody for taking care of me. It was a pleasure.”
Nicolas Goyon, GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager: “What an emotional conclusion to the weekend. A super-good result from Augusto and we knew he could make a good result here but he’d suffered some crashes and it was going up-and-down. We made a reset after warm-up and made some little changes on the bike. We went for it, and he had an amazing race to reach 4th, just 1.5 seconds from the podium which is a great achievement for a rookie. We’re so happy. Jonas had a difficult race and couldn’t get a good rhythm but stayed up when many others could not. He ended-up with a decent position and that’s what we needed from him. A big thanks to the team and for all the hard work from the mechanics this weekend and from the factory, as always. We are already looking forward to Mugello.”
Results MotoGP SHARK Grand Prix de France
1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Ducati 41:37.970
2. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +4.256
3. Johann Zarco (FRA) Ducati +4.795
4. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 +6.281
13. Jonas Folger (GER) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 +49.808
World Championship standings MotoGP
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA) Ducati, 94 points
2. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA) Ducati, 93
3. Brad Binder (RSA) KTM, 81
14. Augusto Fernandez (ESP) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, 30
20. Jonas Folger (GER) GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, 7
- From GasGas Factory Racing
<
Discussion about this post