Ruben Fernandez impresses on his way to a qualification sixth in Sardegna, results and standings 25.03.2023: MXGP of Sardegna MXGP 2023 Round 2 At a track that Ruben Fernandez admitted wasn’t his favourite, the Team HRC rider put in an impressive ride in the MXGP of Sardegna qualification race to finish sixth and maintain his second place in the 2023 M

MXGP of Sardegna
MXGP 2023   Round 2

At a track that Ruben Fernandez admitted wasn’t his favourite, the Team HRC rider put in an impressive ride in the MXGP of Sardegna qualification race to finish sixth and maintain his second place in the 2023 MXGP World Championship standings.



With a week of successful sand training sessions under his belt, the #70 headed to Riola Sardo, buoyed by both his victory at the MXGP of Patagonia-Argentina and how much he had improved in the deep dune sand. In the free practice session, he took his time to re-familiarise himself with the treacherous Riola Sardo circuit before going out in timed practice and immediately putting in a time to challenge those at the top.



Having a ‘purple sector’ for a lot of the session, he was visibly more comfortable than he’s ever looked before and ended up fifth, which set himself up nicely for the qualification race.



Narrowly avoiding a first turn pile-up, Fernandez put in a great first lap to quickly move into fourth place, before settling into a pace with those around him. For the first half of the race, he rode a smart race, not taking too many chances on what is always a difficult track to negotiate. But a couple of mistakes by those in front, suddenly put him third place and with second within view, he twisted the throttle to close up and make his move.



Unfortunately, as he went to pass the ride in second, he tucked the front end and dropped a few positions. Remounting in sixth, he still had work to do to hold off the chasing pack, but showing remarkable coolness under pressure, especially having just dropped some places, he brought it home in sixth to give him five valuable championship points.



It also gives him another good gate-pick for tomorrow’s races which count for the championship and the actual GP overall. This is where he was successful at round one, going five-one for the top step of the podium after a fourth place in qualification, and the hope is that he’ll be able to repeat that sort of performance here and continue his great start to the 2023 world championship.   
    
       


    
Ruben Fernandez  70


I was really happy with my riding today, feeling so much better than I’ve ever felt when riding here. In the qualification race, I had to avoid another rider in turn one, after a good jump out of the gate. This slowed me a bit but I was still able to make some good passes in turn two and then on the rest of the first lap.


I had a good speed going and was happy where I was, but near the end I saw I was gaining on second place so I tried to make the move but the low sun just caught me out a bit and dropped the bike in the turn. It was a shame but I’m still very positive for tomorrow where I know I can put in similar rides and keep this momentum going.         

    
       

    
Marcus Pereira de Freitas
HRC General Manager - MXGP


Overall, it was a very good day for Ruben and the team. He showed his sand skills today and we are very happy with his riding in all three sessions.

Each time he went out on the track he got better and better, from 11th in free practice to fifth in timed practice and then he was in the top five for the majority of the qualification race, only dropping to sixth when he tried to make a pass for second place a couple of laps from the end.



If he gets a good start tomorrow, we are confident he can challenge the podium spots and continue his excellent start to the season.         

    
       
    
Qualifying Race


1    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61    SPA    10     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    25:00.149
2    COLDENHOFF Glenn     959    NDL    9     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:01.450
3    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84    NDL    8     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    0:03.253
4    VAN DONINCK Brent     32    BEL    7     JM Honda Racing    Honda    0:10.328
5    FEBVRE Romain     3    FRA    6     Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP    Kawasaki    0:12.660
6    FERNANDEZ Ruben     70    SPA    5     Team HRC - MXGP    Honda    0:15.017
7    SEEWER Jeremy     91    SWI    4     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:16.135
8    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10    NDL    3     Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha    0:18.798
9    GUADAGNINI Mattia     101    ITA    2     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas    0:33.688
10    PATUREL Benoit     6    FRA    1     De Baets Yamaha MX-Team    Yamaha    0:41.399
11    RENAUX Maxime     959    FRA    0     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha    0:42.670
12    BOGERS Brian     189    NDL    0     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda    0:52.141
13    FORATO Alberto     303    ITA    0     SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery    KTM    0:55.392
14    KOCH Tom     226    GER    0     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    0:58.495
15    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161    SWE    0     JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:04.846
16    GUILLOD Valentin     92    SWI    0     Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda    1:20.642
17    WATSON Ben     919    GBR    0     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1:23.450
18    SPIES Maximillian     71    GER    0     KTM Kosak Team    KTM    1:27.379
19    LUPINO Alessandro     77    ITA    0     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta    1:29.129
20    ROOSIORG Hardi     75    EST    0     JWR Honda Racing    Honda    1:33.321
    
    
       
    
Rider Standings


1    PRADO GARCIA Jorge     61     SPA     60     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas
2    FERNANDEZ Ruben     70     SPA     53     Team HRC - MXGP    Honda
3    FEBVRE Romain     3     FRA     50     Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP    Kawasaki
4    HERLINGS Jeffrey     84     NDL     49     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
5    RENAUX Maxime     959     FRA     40     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
6    JONASS Pauls     41     LAT     36     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda
7    GUADAGNINI Mattia     101     ITA     35     Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing    GasGas
8    COLDENHOFF Glenn     959     NDL     34     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
9    VLAANDEREN Calvin     10     NDL     29     Gebben Van Venrooy Yamaha Racing    Yamaha
10    SEEWER Jeremy     91     SWI     28     Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP Team    Yamaha
11    VAN DONINCK Brent     32     BEL     20     JM Honda Racing    Honda
12    FORATO Alberto     303     ITA     20     SM Action Racing Team Yuasa Battery    KTM
13    BOGERS Brian     189     NDL     19     Standing Construct Honda MXGP    Honda
14    PATUREL Benoit     6     FRA     19     De Baets Yamaha MX-Team    Yamaha
15    GUILLOD Valentin     92     SWI     18     Team Ship To Cycle Honda SR Motoblouz    Honda
16    WATSON Ben     919     GBR     15     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta
17    ÖSTLUND Alvin     161     SWE     11     JWR Honda Racing    Honda
18    POLI Joaquin     179     ARG     5     Wildcard Rider    Kawasaki
19    ROOSIORG Hardi     75     EST     5     JWR Honda Racing    Honda
20    LUPINO Alessandro     77     ITA     4     MRT Racing Team Beta    Beta
21    POLI Agustin     98     ARG     1     Wildcard Rider    Kawasaki
22    VAN BERKEL Lars     107     NDL     1     Wildcard Rider    Honda
    

    
    
Team HRC - MXGP, also photos