The Circuit of the Americas in Texas, Austin, hosted the fourth round of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship on Sunday, in front of American fans eager to see the action return for the first time with full capacity since the COVID-19 outbreak. After two challenging days for Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s rookies who discovered the 5.513km layout with their MotoGP engines, Raul Fernandez and Remy Gardner were set to start their fourth race of the season from the 21st and 22nd positions. They were getting ready to go for 13:00 local time (GMT-5), for 20 laps.

Raul Fernandez did not get the qualifying results he had hoped for in Austin this weekend that would have allowed him to start from better grid positions. He lined-up himself on row 7 for his first Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in the MotoGP class. The Spaniard found himself at the back of the grid after the race start, but he managed to re-focus very rapidly and was able to do some overtakes, including teammate Remy Gardner who had passed him. He progressively set his rhythm and started to improve his sectors, behind the Ducati of Lucas Marini. He rode his best lap on lap 7, in 2'04.621. He once again raced smartly and with regularity throughout the entire race, taking again a lot of experience from the wheels of MotoGP riders Andrea Dovizioso and Franco Morbidelli. He finished the race in P19.

Australian Remy Gardner was starting from the 22nd position on the grid. After a good start that placed him in P19, the number 87 lost his gained positions after a couple of laps, overtaken by Fernandez and Morbidelli. Remy seemed to struggle to set a good race pace, and unfortunately regularly lost time with small mistakes. It appears that Remy suffered from his wrist, still fragile from his February injury, on this physically demanding track. He finished the race in P20, in 42’05.553.

The first series of races overseas comes to an end for the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, at the end of which our two rookies are now going to Europe to race on circuits they are more used to, with incredible MotoGP experience in the bag gained since the start of the season. It is now Portuguese rollercoaster time, as we will be heading to Portimao, Portugal, for the Grande Prémio Tissot de Portugal, on April 22-23-24, 2022.

Raul Fernandez

Position: 19th

Championship: 23rd

Points: 0

"It was not the result I had hoped for today, but this race was dedicated to Hervé Poncharal, and Thomas Galloux from WP, as it was both their birthdays. The race was really difficult, especially if your regular pace is in 2’05 and you try to go down to 2'04, you destroy everything (tyres, body). Anyway, the team did a great job again this weekend and we will continue the learning process in Europe, where we are hoping to get better results."

Remy Gardner

Position: 20th

Championship: 22nd

Points: 1

"It was not a great day. After 6 or 7 laps, I was physically exhausted, and I was not feeling comfortable on the bike. Towards the end, I managed to do a good lap, but I had to put my heart and soul to every corner, and to do that during an entire race is not possible. We also had a big drop with the soft tyres, so maybe we did not pick the right option for the race, and I think that we are still missing a lot."

Hervé Poncharal

Team Manager

"What an incredible MotoGP race here in Austin. I hope that the fans who attended the event really enjoyed the show, because it was awesome.

It might sound difficult to understand that we can be happy, but I am reasonably happy because our two riders completed the 20 laps. This track on a MotoGP bike is by far the most demanding physically. Remy, who was not able to train and prepare like he would have wanted due to his wrist injury before the start of the season, suffered a lot today. He arrived in the pit box very tired, so I want to thank him for holding on and doing a good MotoGP rookie race.

On the other side, Raul Fernandez did not have a good start and he found himself last at the end of the first lap, but he managed to recover a few positions. Already in Argentina, he learned a lot, but today with Dovizioso and Morbidelli ahead of him, he continued to learn even more. He did a good race in the end, and finished behind Miguel Oliveira. We know that this is not enough, but we are here to learn and pass on as much knowledge and feedback as we can to KTM Factory engineers in order to speed up the development of the RC16. This is what we are doing, so I would like to thank both Remy and Raul, and the team.

It is now time to go home after a hectic start to the season. Europe will be a bit easier and more comfortable, so we look forward to being in FP1 on Friday, April 22, in Portimao."