As Motorsport.com Italia reports, Raúl Fernández pulled off a stunning drive to finish second at Mandalika despite battling two broken fingers. The Trackhouse rider arrived in Indonesia as one of the weekend's absolute favorites, showing brilliant pace from Friday and securing pole position in qualifying.
Everything derailed during Saturday's Sprint start, however, when a four-bike chain-reaction crash triggered by contact with Marco Bezzecchi sent the Spaniard tumbling. That ugly incident initially left him with a broken right index finger—crucial for braking—but as Fernández confessed on Sunday, medical checks revealed a second broken finger he had tried to keep secret.
Remarkably, the #25 machine still launched into the lead when the lights went out, dictating terms at the front while entirely reinventing his riding technique. Forced to switch his braking to his middle finger while merely resting the broken index against the handlebar, he held off the pressure until lap 19 of the 27 scheduled laps, when Bezzecchi finally clawed past to take second.
Speaking to DAZN, Fernández admitted that the morning of the race brought severe doubt. "Stamattina mi sono svegliato pensando che non avrei corso," he noted, explaining that the physical toll saw him running wide repeatedly and chewing through his rear tyre. "A 13 o 14 giri dalla fine non ce la facevo più," he added of the agony that set in during the second half of the grand prix.
Before the lights went out, peace was made behind closed doors. Following the Warm-Up, Fernández, Marco Bezzecchi, Rivola, Sterlacchini, and Brivio sat down to clear the air regarding Saturday's controversy, ensuring the manufacturer's image remained intact as both riders share a future within Aprilia next year.
With the hardest race of his life now behind him, Fernández is refusing to dwell on the injury as attention shifts straight to Phillip Island. It was a wild, stubborn display of grit from a machine and rider pushed entirely to the absolute limit.
