Augusto Fernandez proved to be one of the stars of the season in Superstock 600 this year, confirming this as he sealed in maiden race victory in the Magny-Cours finale last Sunday. The Spaniard beat both his rivals and the conditions to clinch the French win.

While others failed to finish in a race marred by crashes, 18-year-old Fernandez made the most of his opportunity with the Pata Honda Junior Team. Not only did he avoid slipping off the track – despite some lurid moments – but the Madrid rider surprised himself by amassing enough points to jump up to fourth in the final standings.

“We had the chance to move up in the championship, but we needed others to have problems,” Fernandez explains in an interview with WorldSBK.com, having arrived at Magny-Cours sixth overall behind Niki Tuuli and Andrea Tucci who both retired from the race. “I do think we have done a good job this year, despite some rookie mistakes at times. I am quite a smooth rider, I don’t tend to fall that much.”

2015 saw Fernandez step up to the FIM Europe Superstock 600 Championship as the previous season’s Champion in the Pata European Junior Cup – Powered by Honda.

“I think I have learned a lot this year,” he continues. “My two years in the EJC served me well, learning how to ride in a group and getting to know many of the European circuits, but the bikes were very basic. In Superstock 600 I have had a serious racing bike; also, I have learned how to work properly in a team, give feedback to a mechanic, work with tyres, change tyres and so on. We didn’t need to change tyres in the EJC because those bikes aren’t powerful enough to eat up tyres.”

Previously accustomed to a team made up exclusively of himself alongside his father and namesake, the younger Augusto Fernandez continues: “Until last year I had always worked with my father; if he wasn’t around to change my wheels, nobody was.”

Once the interview with the number 37 rider was over, his father added:

“Augusto has proven what he needed to prove. He has done very well this year. It was important to run at the front in races to show what can be done next season. At the last few events, he has battled a lot with the regular front-runners of the year.”