Another piece of the MotoGP grid has fallen into place. Raul Fernandez has in fact been confirmed for next year as one of the two riders who will wear the stars and stripes colors of the American team Trackhouse.
The Spaniard, now in his second year in the Aprilia customer team after his MotoGP debut with KTM, will continue his relationship with Trackhouse for the next two seasons, having signed a two-year contract that also guarantees him good stability for the foreseeable future.
Fernandez had been confirmed by Trackhouse at the start of this championship, with a fairly forced choice. The American team in fact entered the world of MotoGP at the end of last year replacing RNF, the old Aprilia customer team stopped by Dorna due to financial difficulties. At that point, however, the rider market was already defined and Trackhouse had decided to continue with the same pairing chosen by RNF, with Miguel Oliveira alongside the young talent Fernandez, in the hope that the latter could blossom in his second year on an Aprilia bike.
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The Spaniard has shown signs of growth this season, with front row starts in Barcelona and Sachsenring, as well as four top 10 finishes in the first nine rounds. One of the highlights was a strong performance at his home race in Spain, although the sprint unfortunately ended with a crash while he was leading.
Despite having to deal with an old bike, Fernandez scored just five points less than teammate Miguel Oliveira in the first half of the season, who never really found the feeling with the new RS-GP, placing himself just behind the Portuguese in 14th place in the riders’ standings.
Thanks to this new contract, starting from 2025 Fernandez will have the latest version of the Noale bike at his disposal: “I am very happy to stay with Trackhouse Racing MotoGP. This new project, with Justin and Davide, is fantastic and they have built a great team”.
“I’m happy to hear their plans for the future, because they have a clear idea of what they want to do and for me, since the beginning of the year, it was a priority to try to stay in the team. In the end, I will be here for the next two years, which makes me very satisfied but, of course, this also means that we have a lot of work to do.”
“We will have the full material in 2025 and 2026, which is obviously great news, and right now we are preparing to start with a new bike in the middle of this year, so we have to make good use of this to prepare for next year as well,” explained the Spaniard, who has also secured a latest-generation bike for the second part of this season, albeit with an old engine due to the regulations.
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“We have to stay calm, understand everything about the bike and see what we have to do for the 2025 season, it’s very important.” “
The 23-year-old is expected to be the only Aprilia rider to enjoy continuity with the Noale brand next year, amid major changes at Trackhouse and the factory team, which this year secured the arrival of Davide Brivio to continue strengthening the squad. It is possible that Miguel Oliveira will leave Trackhouse for Pramac, which will field a completely revised rider line-up next year after switching to Yamaha.
“We are delighted to confirm Raul in our line-up for the next two years,” said Trackhouse team principal Davide Brivio.
“Having seen him at work in recent months, we have appreciated his talent and I feel that he is changing his approach to racing and that he is willing to work, to commit to improving, to solve problems and always with a positive approach.”
“This is something we appreciated and it will be very important to carry forward for our future, having already 3 years of experience in MotoGP and knowing the latest 2024-spec Aprilia RS-GP from Silverstone to the end of the season – it will be the best way to prepare Raul for the next two years.”
“I think we have a lot in common; the way of thinking about this project and Raul is happy with the direction of the team, so there are all the conditions we need to make our challenge stronger, help Raul to be a stronger rider and keep pushing to make Trackhouse Racing a better MotoGP team,” added the Italian manager.
#MotoGP #Trackhouse #Fernandez #renews #official #bike