AUGUSTO FERNANDEZ SAYS HE’LL STAY BUSY IN 2027 DESPITE MOTOGP WILDCARD BAN

Augusto Fernández says he expects to stay heavily occupied in 2027 even though he will no longer be able to take MotoGP wildcard rides in the premier class. The Spanish rider, who is Yamaha’s test rider, has been a regular wildcard presence this year, having joined the team at the end of the 2024 season after being dropped by Tech3 KTM and finding himself without a race seat for 2025. Since linking up with Yamaha, Fernández has wildcarded for the test team nine times, including at this weekend’s British Grand Prix.

However, a rule change next year will prevent him from doing wildcards. Speaking after practice at Silverstone, Fernández acknowledged that he only learned the situation after signing his current deal. “Well, in the end, when I signed I didn’t know that I was not going to do wildcards in 2027, but it is what it is,” he said. “Let’s see how the season goes.”

Rather than viewing the ban as a reason to step back, Fernández pointed to the scale of Yamaha’s testing programme for the new 850cc MotoGP machine. “Of course, we have a lot of tests – the testing programme is huge for next year with the new bike, also for the winter, so I’ll be busy anyway,” he added.

Fernández also described a difficult Friday at Silverstone, where he was slowest in practice. He said that, as has often been the case during his wildcard appearances, he needed the first day to rebuild his race pace before attempting anything more ambitious. When asked what he was testing on the day, he explained that he didn’t try new ideas because he wasn’t yet on the pace: “This morning I didn’t try anything. Also I didn’t want to try anything because I wasn’t on the pace. [You have to have] a competitive pace to try things.”

With the weekend still ongoing, he suggested that progress would depend on getting his feel for the current bike back before experimenting further. “Let’s see tomorrow what we can do,” Fernández said. “It’s too different from the 850cc, so I need to get the feelings back from this bike before trying anything.”