“Conquering The Island.”
Hey everyone, welcome to another edition of Dre’s Race Review, and in the first of two editions of the show this weekend, it’s time to look back on my favourite weekend in Motorsport every year, MotoGP at Philip Island. And while this year’s edition wasn’t quite the classic that we know the track for, it did give us another brand new winner, the first win for Trackhouse in MotoGP history. Let’s break it down.
Raul Rules
If you know my articles well enough by now, you know that I love a good retrospective. And it wasn’t too long ago we were talking about Raul Fernandez with an entirely different scope. When you break a Marc Marquez record in Moto2, people sit up and take notice.
Fernandez didn’t move too many needles in Moto3 until right at the end of his time in the class, winning two of the final three races with KTM when the world stopped turning in 2020. He was fourth overall and moved up with the Austrian factory into the Moto2 team alongside Remy Gardner. Little did we know the juggernaut the team then formed.
Together, they won 13 out of 18 races. They won the team’s title in September. And Fernandez from out of nowhere, won eight of them, the highest ever by a rookie in the class, beating Marc Marquez’s seven from 2011. But one crash too many in Misano and Germany opened the door for Remy Gardner to win the world title by just four points, the Aussie just a touch more consistent when it mattered.
KTM promoted them both into a rebranded Tech3 partnering team in orange, but there were already cracks appearing in Fernandez’s psyche. When he was in Moto2, Yamaha were openly courting him with a factory gig. They were prepared to pay the £400,000 needed to break the Spaniard’s contract with KTM, but the Austrian’s understandably refused. Problem was, Fernandez wanted the switch. So Raul had already rocked up in Tech3’s MotoGP team, a struggling outfit, and not really wanting to be there.
KTM’s dream team of prospects was blown up after just a year, Fernandez pushed out and landing with the artists formerly known as the CryptoData RNF team, now on year old Aprilia’s, and Remy Gardner moving to World Superbikes after his dad Wayne (Yes, that Wayne Gardner), called the team clowns on social media for their frustrating results and treatment. Safe to say, it didn’t go well.
Raul did improve marginally in his first year on an Aprilia, but given the hype coming in on Fernandez, it wasn’t until his fifth place in Valencia that year where there was any real sign of the talent we thought we saw in Moto2. But there was also a pass given to him because of the messy ownership situation the RNF team were in, with the funny money going bad, and Razlan walking away from MotoGP entirely. In comes Justin Marks and Trackhouse Racing. The team was saved, and for Fernandez, a final chance to impress.
There were crests and waves. A brief but shocking leading of the Sprint race in Barcelona, before a horrendous mistake saw him crash out spectacularly at Turn 10. Like Icarus, ambitious, but too close to the sun. I’ll be honest, as 2024 on, I thought team boss Davide Brivio made the wrong decision in keeping Raul over Miguel Oliveira’s veteran presence, and Ai Ogura coming in as future Moto2 Champion. But Davide sat Raul down and essentially said it was the Spaniard’s team, but he had to change his attitude. Raul was a sucker for pressure, often overriding his Aprilia’s to compensate, making mistakes and crashing.
Raul’s been pretty open about his mental health struggles, handling fame and pressure has been tricky for him. He’s hired and worked with sports psychologists since then. He feels like a new rider, and Philip Island was when we finally saw Raul Fernandez put it altogether.
In a similar fashion to Indonesia a fortnight earlier, he was arguably not the fastest man on the grid. That title went to Marco Bezzecchi, who continued his excellent speed from Mandalika. Dominated in practice and warm-ups, and looked like it was his to lose, even after Fabio Quartararo’s stunning final lap put the Frenchman on pole for the fifth time this season. Once Bez hit the front in the Sprint Race, Fernandez couldn’t stay with him for all 13 of the intense laps. Bez won by three seconds with Fernandez second, but fears in the car to the podium that he’d cooked his tires too much.
In the race itself, Fernandez learned from his mistakes. With Bez hampered by a Double Long Lap Penalty for his Marquez crash in Indonesia, Fernandez took control early on when he passed Pedro Acosta for the lead, and stretched the gap out to three seconds as the chasing pack got impatient and drained their tires trying to get to the front. Bez had to fight back from 6th after his two long laps, and wasn’t as aggressive as he was in Mandalika, struggling for laps to get past Quartararo and Marini. At one point, he fell back to five seconds off the lead, and a win was out of the question. Acosta and Alex Marquez also did too much harm to their tires and fell back as Fabio Di Giannantonio made a late charge, but Fernandez had it all in hand.
A magnificent, perfectly ridden maiden win for Raul Fernandez. The seventh different winner in MotoGP, and back-to-back first timers for the first time since 2020 when Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir won in Aragon and Valencia. And the first win for a Trackhouse team that needed a shot in the arm after a lot of the good vibes and Americana energy faded from the outfit in live under Brivio. It means every team on the grid has now won a race.
And the thing is with Fernandez – This wasn’t a fluke. Very quietly behind the scenes, he’s finally found some stability, and put together some much stronger results, comfortably his best in the four years he’s spent in the Premier Class. He didn’t have a Top 10 finish until half way through his second season. This year, he has 10 of them, including a Sprint Podium in Mandalika, just one DNF all year in Grand Prix’, and is now Top 10 in the Championship for the first time. If he keeps this up, he’ll have more points this season than his previous three combined. Before out eyes, Raul is blossoming into a key player for Trackhouse, and one of the better riders in a congested MotoGP midfield.
It’s been a long time coming for Raul Fernandez, a man who at one point had the weight of the world and the expectations of so many around him. And while he may not ever quite match those hopes, for one day only, he ruled MotoGP’s toughest island. And that means a lot for a man who still couldn’t quite believe what he’d just done.
The Lightning Round
Bajaj Auto went on TV earlier this week and admitted they want to reduce KTM’s overheads by 50% in the next year. That includes racing, that comes under marketing for them. I get the impression that Bajaj aren’t here to go racing, and that’s not a good sign for the Austrian’s future in MotoGP. Hmmm…
Also, just it still feel like Trackhouse are kind of anonymous for the sport’s only American team and failing to cash in on the Liberty Media hype train given the owners are now American? Feels like Davide Brivio Racing still and I think turning away from their American heritage feels like a bigger mistake by the race.
The other big bit of Fernandez’s significance here. Say what you will about Fermin Aldeguer’s win in Mandalika, he wasn’t the fastest man in the bay that weekend, and Bez arguably was here. He ultimately ended up third despite two long lap penalties, but at what point do you say that Aprilia might just have the best bike in MotoGP? The concessions are doing exactly what they intended to do, they’re bringing the field together. Bez has somehow only won one Grand Prix this season when he’s challenged for half a dozen of them. I’m telling you, they’re there.
And with it, Bez moves to third in the Championship after another disaster weekend for Pecco Bagnaia. Only just made Q2, got a three-place grid penalty for blocking Bez in Qualifying, was nowhere in the Sprint, and crashed from more or less the back in the Grand Prix at the Melbourne Loop. I’m genuinely exhausted talking about this at this point. So many questions. What are Ducati doing? Why were they so mid this weekend by their usual standards, with only Diggia sparing blushes for the GP25? Why was Pecco so disturbed by finishing third in the first half of the year? Why did Motegi work but nothing else has since? How tenable is this situation? Am I still going to have hair by December?!
Outstanding win by Senna Agius in Moto2, absolutely dominated the field and never looked so good in doing so. Another podium for Diogo Moreira in third means its now a 2-point Championship battle with Manu Gonzalez, who seemed livid he could only manage seventh. And hey David Alonso second, that’s cool too.
Also, Jose Antonio Rueda now has 10 wins on the season and no one cares. Has David Alonso’s dominance of last year now completely sucked the air out of Moto3 as a class? Maybe the confirmed 2028 reboot with Yamaha R7’s as a one-make series will breathe some new life into the class. That still feels like a long way way mind you.
And as I don’t normally get a chance to mention it – Congrats to Toprak on back-to-back World Superbike Championships. Arguably, the greatest talent the series has ever seen and I really hope the MotoGP switch works out, he is a box office talent that the world needs to see. Commiserations to Nicolo Bulega and Jonathan Rea, who had to sit out what would have been the final race of his career with an injury.
Jonny is an Irish sporting legend. Six World Superbike titles, 17 years on a Superbike and has been an incredible rider for pretty much all of them. Him on the mean green kawasaki was so often, completely untouchable. He defined an era of bike racing alongside him, Toprak, and Alvaro Bautista. Both he and Toprak will be badly missed in that WSBK paddock, believe me.
The Verdict: 7/10 (Good) – While this was a little tame by Philip Island’s normally mystifying standards, this was still an enjoyable race. A genuine game of tire preservation in difficult, windy conditions, and as a result, genuine transitions of pace between a fun chasing pack of Bez, Marquez, Marini, Quartararo, Rins and Acosta. A fun race. See you in Sepang.
