Riola Sardo proves a tough test for Fernandez -- results and standings 26.03.2023: MXGP of Sardegna MXGP 2023 Round 2 After an impressive sixth place in yesterday’s qualification race, Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez had a much tougher time of things in the GP races of the MXGP of Sardegna, making mistakes early-on while well-pla

 MXGP of Sardegna
MXGP 2023   Round 2



After an impressive sixth place in yesterday’s qualification race, Team HRC’s Ruben Fernandez had a much tougher time of things in the GP races of the MXGP of Sardegna, making mistakes early-on while well-placed and struggling to break into the top 10.



Two good starts gave Fernandez the chance to repeat yesterday’s results at this tough, deep, dune-sand circuit in Riola Sardo, but crashes really cost him any chance of scoring a decent points haul and maintaining his second-place in the 2023 MXGP World Championship standings.



In the first race, he was battling with the top riders just inside the top 10 and looking to move forward, but just as things were going well, he crashed in the same spot as in the qualification race and dropped way down the field. As he was working his back way through, a collision with another rider meant that he had to pull off due to contact on his left-hand. It was a disappointing way to end the moto but it meant that he had plenty of energy to burn on this tough terrain in race two.



Once again, a good start saw him round the second corner in fourth place and he was fighting hard to maintain that position amongst the best motocross riders on the planet. Unfortunately, for a third time, he made a mistake in the turn after the pitlane and ended up dead last. Knowing that he had a lot of work to do to get some good points, he set about charging through the field, picking off riders at regular intervals and moving his way up the table.



With a couple of laps remaining he had got up to 15th place, which was a decent effort but the Spaniard wasn’t done there, overtaking four riders in the last two laps to finish 11th. It wasn’t the place he wanted, but it was still a good recovery and showed he does have speed in the sand, a surface he admits isn’t his favourite.



So after his victory in Patagonia-Argentina in round one, and this tough test in Sardinia for round two, the Honda CRF450R rider sits in seventh place in championship. It’s still a good start for Fernandez and he’ll be expecting to be back fighting for podium positions at the next round in Frauenfeld, Switzerland which should be more like the terrain that he enjoys riding.   
    
       
    
Ruben Fernandez  70


It was definitely a difficult day today, with some mistakes early-on in both motos costing me a lot of positions. In race one, I was inside the top 10 when I crashed in the same corner as yesterday, dropping me right down the field. Then I crashed again with another rider and unfortunately I hurt my hand a bit so I decided it would be safer to pull off the track.



Then in race two when I was around the fifth, I made the same mistake in the same corner on the first lap and remounted in last. I’m pretty annoyed to have done that, but from then on, I tried my best to make up as many places as I could and work my way through the field.



 Every lap I seemed to gain a spot and then in the last couple of laps I moved from 15th to 11th so I’m happy with that, but overall disappointed in the way today went. I know I need to work on some things in the sand and that’s what I’ll continue to do. A big thank you to all the team for their support and I hope I’ll be back nearer the front in Switzerland in a couple of weeks’ time.         

    
       


    
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP


Unfortunately, it was a tough day once again in Sardinia. Riola Sardo certainly hasn’t been kind to Team HRC but we won’t dwell on that and instead focus on getting things right in Switzerland at the next round.


Ruben knows what he is capable of, and he showed some really good signs yesterday, so the talent is there, he just made mistakes at the wrong time and on this track that is really costly.          

    
       
    
Race 1

1    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    25     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    34:20.164
2    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    22     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:01.706
3    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    20     Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:02.831
4    RENAUX Maxime     959    FRA    18     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:03.784
5    COLDENHOFF Glenn     959    NDL    16     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:27.257
6    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    15     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:36.901
7    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    14     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda    0:37.947
8    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    13     SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery    KTM    0:41.731
9    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    12     JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:44.403
10    GUADAGNINI Mattia     101    ITA    11     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    0:45.384
11    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    10     Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP    Kawasaki    0:51.225
12    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    9     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda    1:22.100
13    PATUREL Benoit     6    FRA    8     De Baets Yamaha MX-Team    Yamaha    1:24.971
14    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    7     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1:25.195
15    KOCH Tom     226    GER    6     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    1:32.460
16    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    5     JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:33.245
17    GUILLOD Valentin     92    SWI    4     Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda    2:07.109
18    SPIES Maximillian     71    GER    3     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    1 Lap
19    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    2     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1 Lap
20    BRUMANN Kevin     87    SWI    1     JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha    6 Laps
21    JASIKONIS Arminas     2    LTU    0     Wildcard Rider    GasGas    8 Laps
22    FERNANDEZ Ruben     70    SPA    0     Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    14 Laps
    
    
       
    
Race 2

1    COLDENHOFF Glenn     959    NDL    25     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    34:44.339
2    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    22     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:01.965
3    RENAUX Maxime     959    FRA    20     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:04.293
4    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    18     Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP    Kawasaki    0:13.048
5    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    16     Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:14.860
6    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    15     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    0:20.500
7    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    14     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:26.569
8    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    13     JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:54.079
9    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    12     SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery    KTM    1:02.813
10    JONASS Pauls     41    LAT    11     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda    1:08.066
11    FERNANDEZ Ruben     70    SPA    10     Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    1:14.890
12    GUADAGNINI Mattia     101    ITA    9     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    1:15.230
13    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    8     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1:17.522
14    PATUREL Benoit     6    FRA    7     De Baets Yamaha MX-Team    Yamaha    1:17.950
15    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    6     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1:29.002
16    KOCH Tom     226    GER    5     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    1:30.448
17    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    4     JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:52.434
18    GUILLOD Valentin     92    SWI    3     Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda    1 Lap
19    SPIES Maximillian     71    GER    2     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    1 Lap
20    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    1     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda    1 Lap
    
    
       
    
Rider Standings


1    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61     SPA     100     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas
2    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84     NDL     93     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
3    FEBVRE Romain     3     FRA     78     Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP    Kawasaki
4    RENAUX Maxime     959     FRA     78     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
5    COLDENHOFF Glenn     959     NDL     75     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
6    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10     NDL     65     Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
7    FERNANDEZ Ruben     70     SPA     63     Team HRC - MXGP    Honda
8    SEEWER Jeremy     91     SWI     57     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
9    JONASS Pauls     41     LAT     56     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda
10    GUADAGNINI Mattia     101     ITA     55     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas
11    VAN DONINCK Brent     32     BEL     45     JM Honda Racing    Honda
12    FORATO Alberto     303     ITA     45     SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery    KTM
13    BOGERS Brian     189     NDL     34     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda
14    PATUREL Benoit     6     FRA     34     De Baets Yamaha MX-Team    Yamaha
15    WATSON Ben     919     GBR     30     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta
16    GUILLOD Valentin     92     SWI     25     Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda
17    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161     SWE     20     JWR Honda Racing    Honda
18    LUPINO Alessandro     77     ITA     12     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta
19    KOCH Tom     226     GER     11     KTM Kosak Team    KTM
20    POLI Joaquin     179     ARG     5     Wildcard Rider    Kawasaki
21    SPIES Maximillian     71     GER     5     KTM Kosak Team    KTM
22    ROOSIORG Hardi     75     EST     5     JWR Honda Racing    Honda
23    POLI Agustin     98     ARG     1     Wildcard Rider    Kawasaki
24    VAN BERKEL Lars     107     NDL     1     Wildcard Rider    Honda
25    BRUMANN Kevin     87     SWI     1     JK Racing Yamaha Active    Yamaha
    



    
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