Image: Supplied.

Fourth place in the 1000th GP at Le Mans marked the best result of the MotoGP season to date for Augusto Fernandez, as the fifth round of the 2023 season was a sign of positive progress for the GasGas Factory Racing Tech3 rookie.

From 12th on the grid, Fernandez failed to finish the sprint race after a fall with eight laps remaining, but regrouped and made a solid start to Sunday’s GP.

The number 37 kept his nose clean in what were chaotic opening laps, emerging inside the top six on lap six. From there, he delivered a consistent pace and was able to move in front of Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) before capitalising on a late race mistake from Marc Marquez to secure fourth position ahead of a charging Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team).

“I’m so happy,” explained Fernandez. “After the quali I had the crash in the sprint and then also in warm-up so I was missing some confidence but I knew I had the pace to fight for something in the race nice. I wasn’t expecting this though!

“I made the right choice with the front tyre and I want to thank the team for all their work, not only here but all season, and we are going in the right direction, so let’s keep pushing.”

Fernandez stepped up to MotoGP this year after capturing the 2022 Moto2 World Championship. He is the only rookie in the category for 2023 and prior to Le Mans, his best premier-class GP result was P10 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).