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Italiano
This morning came confirmation of news that was already in the air, namely that Augusto Fernandez will replace Jonathan Rea at Portimao riding the Yamaha R1. Rea underwent surgery to try to speed up his recovery time, but the crash he suffered in testing at Phillip Island forced him to miss both the first race weekend of the world championship and the second round, in Portugal.
For Fernandez, it will obviously be a World SBK debut riding the Yamaha R1, and it will also be a first contact with the Pirelli tires, which the Spaniard has never used during his racing career since he has been racing in MotoGP.
"First of all I would like to wish Jonathan Rea a speedy recovery and thank Yamaha for this opportunity - the Spaniard's words - This will be my first race experience with the R1 but also my first time in World SBK. I'm looking forward to the test in Portimão to spend some time on the bike and see how it behaves."
Niccolò Canepa, this year making his debut in the role of Yamaha's Road Racing sport director, will therefore find himself in the box with a rider who will certainly be interesting to watch riding the R1.
"We really missed Jonathan here at Phillip Island," he commented, " but we are happy that the surgery for his injury was successful and that he has begun the recovery process. We hope to see him fully fit and back on the bike as soon as possible. In the meantime, we talked with Augusto and Yamaha Motor Racing about the possibility of filling in for Jonathan in Portimão, and he was enthusiastic about doing so. He knows the circuit well and with the test scheduled before the race we can let him try the R1 WorldSBK before the event. We have to thank Yamaha Motor Racing and the MotoGP team for their support and we look forward to welcoming Augusto to the WorldSBK team and paddock."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
