Written by Finn Glover, Edited by Gabriel Tsui

In 2022, Spain's Augusto Fernández sensationally won the Moto2 World Championship after a season long brawl with Japan's Ai Ogura.
He seemed destined to be a future star of MotoGP, following in the footsteps of some of Spain's greats like the Marquez brothers and co. So what happened? Why did he get so brutally ousted out of a ride just two years later?
Early Career

Fernández progressed to European bike racing in 2014 at just age 16, immediately making an impact in the FIM European Junior Cup, where he dominated and won 50% of races en route to a stunning championship victory.
After a relatively underwhelming year in FIM European Superstock 600, he made the bold decision to jump straight into the well-established FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship, the final step on the ladder to racing in the MotoGP paddock.
After a steady first year where he finished 4th a remarkable six times, in 2017, he was called straight to Moto2 during the Italian Grand Prix weekend to replace Axel Bassani with the Speed Up team.

Obviously, with the large jump in class, nothing spectacular was expected. Yet, he still managed to claim 6 points in the final two rounds of the season in Sepang and Valencia. Yet for the following season he couldn't find a signature; resulting in a move back to the FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship.
He only completed there for 5 more races; amassing a 100% podium record resulting in a permanent switch to Moto2. He replaced Hector Barbera at Pons Racing; and in a much improved season, scored 45 points across 12 races, including a brilliant 4th at Phillip Island.
He remained with Pons for 2019, which proved to be an amazing decision, as he went on to win three races despite fracturing his wrist in an early season crash at Argentina.
With Alex Marquez moving to MotoGP, he jumped ship to the Marc VDS team for 2020, for two seasons. However, the move did not turn out as planned, going winless in both 2020 and 2021 seemingly destroying any foreseeable chance of MotoGP promotion.

Yet, an inspired move to the Red Bull KTM camp saved Fernández, and in 2022, he went on and won the championship, amassing 4 wins and capitalising on his competitors' mistakes.
That instilled a sense of confidence within KTM, prompting them into placing Fernández into their junior team GASGAS Tech3 for the 2023 season, with the likely eventual goal to earn a factory seat in the near future.
MotoGP tenure
Fernández would partner veteran teammate Pol Espargaro for the 2023 season, who was expected to take up a mentor position and lead the team to successes in 2023, Yet, during practise at the first round in Portimao, Espargaro suffered horrific injuries resulting in him missing half the season.
So that meant Fernández would assume the role of team leader- a role which he took with absolute excellence. Fernández wiped the floor with stand-in Jonas Folger and Espargaro upon return, scoring points in his first 11 races en route to an extremely respectable P17 in the championship, with 71 points.
The highlight was an unbelievable P4 at Le Mans, finishing just 1.5 seconds off a podium in just his fifth ever race. The second half of the season dwindled slightly, involving multiple accidents, yet he still impressed more than enough to be resigned for 2024.

Partnering Fernández would be the hot talent Pedro Acosta, the 2023 Moto2 Champion. Similarly to Fernández, the expectation was that Acosta would need nurturing and progressing into his role.
Yet, those speculations were disbanded immediately. Acosta obliterated all expectations; finishing on the podium in just his 2nd race and out-scoring Fernández in all the races both the pair finished.
This left Fernández seemingly forgotten about; with Acosta taking all the headlines and leaving his teammate defenceless to the talk of ‘Why aren't you that fast?’
Amidst all of that, Fernández rolled into a depressing P20 finish in the championship, amassing just 27 points, 44 less than 2023. In the main races, he only managed to venture into the top 10 once, in what was a truly abysmal season.
The disappointing performance and abomination by Acosta lead to Fernández being booted off the grid in favour of a totally new lineup for the rebranded Tech3 camp for 2025.

It was a sad end to a promising and possibly unlucky stint in MotoGP. Yet, all hope may not be lost, with him signing as Yamaha test rider in December.
Yet, the unfortunate reality is that test riders barely ever get mainstay opportunities. It may be the end of Fernández’s tenure in MotoGP, but the door is still wide open to a probable move to other classes like WorldSBK and maybe even a Moto2 return. But where did it all go wrong?
It was seemingly the arrival of Acosta that damaged Fernández’s momentum and confidence; with the Spanish rookie obliterating his Spanish counterpart all throughout 2024.
Barring the alien Acosta, Fernández’s fall marks a recent trend in Moto2 graduates plummeting to premier class failiure. Gardner, Lecuona and Raul Fernández are just a few of the names that never lived up to the hype, with the first two booted out the class after minimal time to adapt.
MotoGP is cruel, and there’s no doubt in Fernández's class. It would be a waste not to see him back on the grid, and there’s every hope his move to Yamaha will revitalise his career and provoke new hype around him.
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