Raul Fernandez has been ruled out of the remainder of the official pre-season test for the 2024 MotoGP World Championship after sustaining a bruised hip and pelvis in a crash on day one at Sepang.
The Spaniard brought out the first red flag of the test within ten minutes of the eight-hour session getting underway when he lost the rear of his Trackhouse Racing Aprilia on his first flying lap at Turn 11.
Heavily damaging the Aprilia RS-GP, Fernandez had a stint in the medical centre before being allowed back on track. But after completing less than half of the mileage his fellow MotoGP riders managed, the decision was taken to park up for the remaining two days.
The Spaniard, who is entering into his second season with the satellite Aprilia team – but his first under its new Trackhouse Racing management structure – was contrite in the aftermath, apologising profusely for the incident.
“First of all, I would like to say sorry to Aprilia and our Trackhouse Racing MotoGP Team. This morning in my first laps I had a big crash because of the track conditions.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect that coming. But because of that crash, I won’t be able to continue this test here in Sepang.
“I feel really, really bad, because we won’t have the chance to continue to understand the new bike better and to learn how it feels.
“For me, it’s just going to be important now to recover well and to rest. To ride the bike like this is not safe for me, so I need to focus on my recovery and try to be at 100% in Qatar Test in order to do all the work we planned to do here.
“Again, I want to say sorry to Aprilia and the team.”
