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.

MXGP 2023
Qualifying Round 2   Sardegna

Qualifying Race

Sunny
Air Temp
15°C
Track Cond
Deep Sand
Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor Time/Gap
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
MXGP 2023

Rider standings

Pos. Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
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
23 Koch Tom 226 GER 0 KTM Kosak Team KTM
24 Evans Mitch 43 AUS 0 Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP Kawasaki
25 Spies Maximillian 71 GER 0 KTM Kosak Team KTM
Location Information