Trackhouse Racing and Aprilia have given Raul Fernandez a factory Aprilia, but can he make the most of it?
Raul Fernandez will enter his second year with the Trackhouse Racing Team and his third year with Aprilia.
The Spaniard is expected to be Trackhouse's lead rider for the 2025 MotoGP season. Ahead of the new season, Fernandez revealed that he has changed his preparations and mentality towards his training.
"It is really nice to be here again, and I am really happy to be a part of Trackhouse," Fernandez told MotoGP.com. "This year will be interesting, this winter was different, I trained a lot and focussed on myself. I was just thinking about myself and not what other people were doing.
"I changed my mentality and a lot of things in my training, so I am really motivated to start the season. We have new colours, new partners like Gulf, which is really iconic in motorsport. I am really happy to be here and I am ready to start the season."
The Spaniard has ridden for KTM and Aprilia in MotoGP but has finally been given a factory-specification MotoGP machine.
Fernandez knows that his first year with an up-to-date machine will be an important year. The 24-year-old has a lot to prove and knows the Sepang test will be crucial for him as he gets to test his new machine.
"Honestly, it was not really a test for us, we did not have a lot of things to test," Fernandez said about the Barcelona test.
"I am really happy to go to Sepang to see what Aprilia will bring for us, it will be my first year in MotoGP with a factory bike. We will not have to change the bike in the middle of the season, which is really important for me.
"We will have really important riders in the factory team, we will have the World Champion and his data. This is really important for me, the test was positive and we changed some people in the box and I feel comfortable working with them. Overall, it was positive but I didn't try the new bike."
Despite the important 2025 MotoGP season coming up he has not set himself any objectives for the year ahead. Instead, Fernandez would like to be fully fit throughout the year after dealing with injury issues across the last few seasons.
"To do my maximum, I would like to do my maximum," Fernandez explained. "I want to enjoy and not think about the results, of course, they are important and it is the year we need to have some good results. But if we think about the results we will not get them, I am trying to be focused on myself and to do my maximum.
"I think this year for me is important, I have changed some things in my life, I have changed my mentality and my physicality. Hopefully, I can be at 100% throughout the whole year."