Aleix Esparg🐓aro and Maverick Vinales helped secure an Aprilia 1-2 in second practice, as both riders set new lap records at different times.  

But Fernandez was not in the same ballpark as he coulဣd only manage 14th, meaning he’s the only Aprilia riderಌ set to go through Q1 on Saturday.

• 202🌌3ཧ Indonesian MotoGP, Mandalika - Friday Practice Results 
• Espargaro faste🉐𝓡st as lap record tumbles in Practice 2 at Mandalika

But the young Spaniard, who hasꦡ been a top ten finisher in each of the last three grand prix’, feels he has what it takes to match the likes of Espargaro and Vinales.

“It was not really good,” said Fernandez when summing up day-one at Mandalika. “Since Barcelona I didn’t feel like this again on the bike. Tꦅoday, I couldn’t ride like I wanted. 

“That is the reason I could not go fast. Weꦗ tried but the problem is that, t𒈔his weekend, we have a different tyre compound and we have very hard front tyres. 

“It’s quite difficult to work because sometimes we need to understand the race tyre and what we have to do for the direction we want to🤡 go in. 

“It's quite difficult sometimes and for that re🀅ason it was a tough day. I felt very good but when we p𒉰ut the soft tyre on it was like a disaster. 

“I could💮n’t be fast and basically our bike has potential because I saw it. In the last races we saw that I have th🃏e factory rider level. I want to go there. 

“It does🦄n’t matter if we’re in Q1 or not, the target is to go there. The target is to be close to the factory Aprilias.”

A 🐽problem throughout last year’s first-ever Indonesian MotoGP was the amount of available cl𝕴ean track.

Several riders either had near-cras♉hes - Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin were included in that - while others w🃏ent one step further by falling off their machines for simply being off line.

Fernandez said the grip is good at Mandalika but thᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚat the amount of clean𒀰 track is only 2 metres/2-and-a-half metres long.

The RNF rider added: “The problem is that the track, 🥀for me, wa🔯s good in terms of grip which was a nice surprise, but the problem is that the track is too dirty. 

“You have 2 metres o🍰r 2-and-a-half metres of good track and basically if you’re wide then you cannot enter the co❀rner. 

🍌“It’s too easy to make a mistake. For me the problem is not the grip on the track, but ♕it’s because it is too dirty. If you go wide you crash.”