Fernandez’s route to glory

Augusto Fernandez has taken an unconventional path to the Moto2 world championship, which he secured at Valencia.

Not least, yoga lessons from his mother. While that helped stabilise his 2022 campaign, his love of bikes began with a motocrosser given to him by his father at the age of six.

Early lessons at Chicho Lorenzo’s school (father of Jorge) followed, but more remarkably has been his bypassing of the Moto3 category.

From the Spanish CEV Moto2 series he got a call up as replacement rider for the Italian Grand Prix in 2017, with his first GP win at Assen for the Pons team in 2019, the first of three that season while overcoming a broken wrist.

After two winless seasons with MarcVDS, a switch to the titlewinning Ajo KTM squad this year

transformed Fernandez, 25, into a championship contender.

“I’m proud of how we, as a family, got here,” Fernandez said. “I’m the rider I am today because of those bad years; there’s nothing to regret.”

The first of four wins this season came at Le Mans, and the most recent at Silverstone in August. Fernandez came to Valencia feeling the pressure of a tense final race showdown with Japanese title rival Ai Ogura, with a gap of just 9.5 points.

He had a clear view of Ogura’s crash that swung the title his way, with Fernandez finishing second in the race to team-mate Pedro Acosta.

Fernandez said: “A thousand things were going through my head until Ogura fell. I feel bad for him. After his crash I was able to let the pressure go, I didn’t care about anything. I tried to win until the end with Pedro.”