Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez put in two solid rides to go five-eight for sixth overall, at the MXGP of Switzerland, held on the old-school Frauenfeld track 30 minutes east of Zurich. Combined with his qualification result from Saturday, this meant the Spaniard moves up to sixth place in the championship standings.
After coming through to ninth place in the qualification race, Fernandez along with everyone else, had a day off to celebrate Easter yesterday so when they finally got back on the track this morning for warm-up, Fernandez was raring to go and put in the fastest time. He then took that effort into race one, getting a good jump before being pushed slightly wider than he would have liked on the first turn. The #70 was still able to come round the first lap inside the top 10 and from there he solidified his position before putting in a couple of fast laps that moved him forward into fifth place. With the riders in front far ahead, he settled into a good pace and crossed the line in that same position.
In race two, the Honda CRF450R rider got an even better start, rounding the first couple of turns inside the top five. Unfortunately, with the track at it’s most difficult, he made a couple of small mistakes to drop down the field, before once again finding his rhythm. The second half of the race was a bit of a lonely affair with gaps in front and behind, but he kept pushing and ended up in eighth place.
While eighth is lower than he would have hoped, it was a solid overall performance on a track that certainly challenged the best motocross riders in the world and his 31-point haul was enough to move him up a position to sixth in the MXGP World Championship standings.
The team now head to Trentino, Italy for the next round of the series, which is now just a few days away on April 15-16 where the familiar Pietramurata circuit plays hosts to round four of this exciting championship.
Rubén Fernández: I was happy with a couple of things this weekend, but in the second race I couldn’t push as much as I wanted, despite being in a good position. Still, my starts were good and my speed in some of the sessions was as good as anyone, so there are definite positives to takeaway from this event. It certainly wasn’t an easy track to race, with deep ruts throughout the track and I didn’t want to make any big mistakes today, so in the end five-eight is probably a fair reflection on how things went. A big thankyou to the team for all their work and I’m excited to head to Trentino, where I hope to perform at a slightly higher level and be nearer those podium spots.
Marcus Pereira de Freitas: This was a difficult GP for everyone, with the day off yesterday and the track being a lot different than the usual circuits we usually race on, but Ruben still put in some good rides and showed again that he is one of the top riders in the world. Going five-eight for sixth overall is a solid day and one that he needed after Sardinia, and it is good that he moved up to sixth in the MXGP championship table too. We now have a quick turnaround before Trentino which is a track he has done well at before, so that’s what we’ll be trying to make happen next weekend.
