Rebirth and tranquility
Raul Fernandez seems like a man, even before being a rider, reborn in recent weeks. At the end of May, his splendid victory in the Mugello Sprint was accompanied by more than a hint of stress and sadness, due to a contract situation that seemed critical and a future in MotoGP that was anything but certain, despite the good results the Spaniard was achieving on track.
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However, the Madrid-born Trackhouse rider persevered, was a great protagonist at Assen – another Sprint win and second place in the GP – and also at Sachsenring he secured fifth place in the short race and third in the long one, despite serious back problems. Now, thanks to this extremely positive trend, his future is much more secure. The official announcement is still missing, but Fernandez will almost certainly remain a Trackhouse rider for the 2027-2028 biennium, thus becoming the central pillar of the ambitious made-in-USA project.
Contract incoming and that idea of a title…
This greater off-track tranquility is reflected on the bike, as Raul Fernandez himself acknowledged to the official MotoGP channel microphone at the end of the German race: “My future is almost decided now, so I think this will help me, because, as you have seen in the last two races, I feel freer and I can manage the bike as I want”, he declared.
The very short standings of this 2026 MotoGP, however, leave room for dreaming. At the mid-season turning point, Fernandez is sixth in the World Championship just 49 points from first place. Dreaming a certain kind of dream for a rider from an independent team is always difficult, but the 25-year-old Madrid native, while keeping his feet on the ground, does not want to rule out fantasizing.
“Me fighting for the title? Certainly, as long as the numbers don’t say no, we will try – said Fernandez – but we still have some things to improve. I will try to work on them. I will try to improve myself and then we will see. I will never say no [that we are out of the title race], but I will never say yes”. The contract secured is fine, but a bit of healthy superstition never hurts.
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