Romano Fenati

Romano Fenati (born 15 January 1996) is an Italian motorcycle racer who competes at Grand Prix level. He was European 125 cc Champion in 2011,[2] championship runner-up of the Italian 125GP series, and also competed in the Spanish 125GP series.

Romano Fenati
Fenati at the 2013 Catalan Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1996-01-15) 15 January 1996 Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Current team	VNE Snipers
Bike number	55 [1]
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2018 Manufacturers Kalex Championships 0 2018 championship position 21st (14 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 12 0 0 0 0 14 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2012–2017, 2019– Manufacturers FTR Honda, KTM, Honda, Husqvarna Championships 0 2019 championship position 16th (76 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 114 11 24 4 12 969

On 12 September 2018 Fenati announced his retirement from motorcycle competition after being sacked, two days earlier, by his team Marinelli Snipers.[3] In addition to an earlier two-race ban imposed, Fenati's racing licence was later revoked for the remainder of the 2018 season.[4]

On 13 November 2018, it was announced that Fenati will return to race in the 2019 Moto3 class.[5] He was included on the provisional 2019 Moto3 entry list released on 16 November 2018, again with the Marinelli Snipers team, re-branded for Moto3 as 'Team O'.[1]

Career

Born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, Fenati is featured in the 2016 documentary film Il Mago Mancini ("Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard").[6]

Moto3 World Championship

2012

Fenati at the 2012 Australian Grand Prix

For the 2012 Moto3 season, Fenati signed with Team Italia FMI riding an FTR Honda. At Round 1 in Qatar, he finished 2nd in his debut race. He then went on to claim his first victory at the second race of the season in Jerez, Spain. In doing so, Fenati became the first rider since Noboru Ueda in 1991 to take two podiums in his first two Grand Prix starts and the youngest ever driver in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history to lead the World Championship. He finished at 6th position for championship.[7]

2013

The 2013 season was disappointing for Fenati as he did not record any podium finishes, with his best position being 5th. He finished 10th in the final championship standings, with 73 points.

2014

For the 2014 Moto3 season, Fenati signed with Valentino Rossi's Sky Racing Team by VR46. It was an up and down season for Fenati, as he scored four podiums in the first six races and ultimately recorded four wins during the season. However, inconsistent results ultimately left him in 5th position in the championship with 176 points.

2015

The 2015 season was also an under-performance for Fenati. Though he maintained some consistency finishing in the top five in eight races – including a victory at Le Mans. Poor qualifying positions for Fenati resulted in the loss of vital points, and he finished the season with 176 points – as he did in 2014 – but placed one position higher in the standings.

2016

Fenati started the 2016 season with a pole position at Qatar, however he only managed 4th in the race. He finished in 20th in Argentina, before his first win of the season in the United States. He was seventh at Jerez, before a second-place finish at Le Mans, losing out to Brad Binder by 0.099 seconds. Fenati qualified on pole at Mugello, but failed to finish the race. He was fourth in both Catalunya and Netherlands, before a pointless 18 position in Germany. Fenati was dropped by Sky Racing VR46 in Austria as a disciplinary action for disagreeing with Uccio Salucci. On 16 August the VR46 team terminated their contract with Romano for the 2016 and 2017 seasons stating behavioural issues in conflict with team policy as the reason behind the split.

2017

In 2017, Fenati joined Marinelli Rivacold Snipers team and had his best season to date: three wins and five second places to finish as runner-up in the Moto3 championship.

Moto2 World Championship

2018

On 9 September 2018, at the 2018 San Marino Grand Prix, Fenati was given a black flag (i.e. disqualified) after grabbing the front brake lever of rival rider Stefano Manzi,[8] which resulted in a two-race ban. His Marinelli Snipers team then terminated their contract with Fenati following the incident.[9] In November 2018 it was announced that he would return for the 2019 season in the Moto3 class.[10][1]

Controversy

Fenati has interfered with other riders a number of times.

In 2015 Argentine Grand Prix, Fenati kicked Niklas Ajo during the warm-up and also turned Ajo's engine off during the practice start. As a consequence he was forced to start the race at the back of the field.[11]

The following year he was sacked from the VR46 team for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.[12]

In September 2018 he pulled the front brake lever of Stefano Manzi during a race when both were travelling at more than 200 km/h (120 mph). He apologized but was dropped from the Marinelli Snipers Team for the offence due to "dangerous conduct".[13][14] Fenati's future contract to ride for Forward Racing using MV Agusta machines in 2019 was cancelled on 11 September.[15]

On 12 September Fenati announced his immediate retirement from motorcycle competition and criticised Manzi for escaping criticism for his part in the controversy.[16] It was later reported that Fenati could be investigated for attempted murder: Italian consumer-rights group Codacons announced that it had reported Fenati to local prosecutors, asking authorities to investigate "any relevant criminal offences, including that of attempted murder".[17]

On 21 September, in addition to a preliminary two-race ban imposed earlier, after meeting with the FIM at their headquarters in Mies, Switzerland, on 18 September, it was announced that Fenati's racing licence was revoked for the remainder of the 2018 season.[4]

He made a comeback to Moto3 for the 2019 season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Number	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	Flap	Pts	Plcd
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	Team Italia FMI	5	17	1	4	0	2	136	6th
2013	Moto3	FTR Honda	San Carlo Team Italia	5	17	0	0	0	0	73	10th
2014	Moto3	KTM	SKY Racing Team VR46	5	18	4	6	0	3	176	5th
2015	Moto3	KTM	SKY Racing Team VR46	5	18	1	3	1	1	176	4th
2016	Moto3	KTM	SKY Racing Team VR46	5	9	1	2	2	2	93	10th
2017	Moto3	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	5	18	3	8	1	2	248	2nd
2018	Moto2	Kalex	Marinelli Snipers Moto2	13	12	0	0	0	0	14	21st
2019	Moto3	Honda	VNE Snipers	55	16	1	1	0	2	76	16th
2020	Moto3	Husqvarna	Sterilgarda Max Racing Team	55	1	0	0	0	0	0*	17th*
Total					126	11	24	4	12	983

 * Season still in progress.

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto3	2012–2017, 2019-present	2012 Qatar	2012 Qatar	2012 Spain	114	11	24	4	12	969	0
Moto2	2018	2018 Qatar			12	0	0	0	0	14	0
Total	2012–Present				126	11	24	4	12	983	0

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos	Pts
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	QAT 2	SPA 1	POR Ret	FRA Ret	CAT 9	GBR 7	NED 12	GER 24	ITA 2	IND 5	CZE 8	RSM 3	ARA Ret	JPN 10	MAL 20	AUS 6	VAL 18			6th	136
2013	Moto3	FTR Honda	QAT 15	AME Ret	SPA 9	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT 15	NED 14	GER 13	IND 9	CZE 18	GBR 12	RSM 10	ARA 8	MAL 9	AUS 14	JPN 5	VAL 11			10th	73
2014	Moto3	KTM	QAT 12	AME 2	ARG 1	SPA 1	FRA Ret	ITA 1	CAT 5	NED 18	GER Ret	IND 2	CZE 11	GBR 16	RSM 11	ARA 1	JPN 7	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 14		5th	176
2015	Moto3	KTM	QAT Ret	AME 8	ARG 8	SPA 6	FRA 1	ITA 3	CAT 8	NED 5	GER 4	IND 4	CZE 6	GBR 12	RSM 4	ARA 3	JPN 28	AUS 6	MAL 5	VAL Ret		4th	176
2016	Moto3	KTM	QAT 4	ARG 20	AME 1	SPA 7	FRA 2	ITA Ret	CAT 4	NED 4	GER 18	AUT DNS	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		10th	93
2017	Moto3	Honda	QAT 5	ARG 7	AME 1	SPA 2	FRA Ret	ITA 13	CAT 2	NED 2	GER 2	CZE 2	AUT 13	GBR 7	RSM 1	ARA 10	JPN 1	AUS 6	MAL 7	VAL 4		2nd	248
2018	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 24	ARG 19	AME 16	SPA Ret	FRA 7	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED Ret	GER 16	CZE Ret	AUT 11	GBR C	RSM DSQ	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	21st	14
2019	Moto3	Honda	QAT 9	ARG 16	AME Ret	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 7	NED 11	GER 4	CZE 8	AUT 1	GBR Ret	RSM DNS	ARA	THA	JPN Ret	AUS 12	MAL 11	VAL 17	16th	76
2020	Moto3	Husqvarna	QAT 17	SPA	AND	CZE	AUT	STY	RSM	EMI	CAT	FRA	ARA	TER	EUR	VAL	THA	MAL	ARG			17th*	0*

 * Season still in progress.

References

1. "2019 provisional entry lists revealed". motogp.com. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
2. "European Championship 125cc Albacete: trionfo italiano, Romano Fenati è campione europeo" (in Italian). Corsedimoto. 9 October 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
3. "Romano Fenati retires from motorcycling after being sacked for pulling brake of Moto2 rival Stefano Manzi". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
4. Fenati's FIM licence withdrawn for remainder of 2018 motorsport.com, 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018
5. "Fenati set to make Grand Prix return in 2019". motogp.com. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
6. "Il Mago Mancini (2016), di Jeffrey Zani" (in Italian). CinemaItaliano.info. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
7. Lewis, Lisa (29 April 2012). "Fantastic Fenati romps to first win". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
8. "Watch: Moto2 rider disqualified for grabbing rival's brake lever".
9. sport, Guardian (10 September 2018). "Romano Fenati sacked by team after pulling rival's brake lever at high speed". the Guardian.
10. Romano Fenati: Rider banned for pulling Stefano Manzi brake lever to return BBC Sport, Motorsport, 19 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018
11. "MotoGP racer kicks competitor while going around a corner, then shuts off his bike". USA Today. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
12. "Rossi confirms Romano Fenati has left the VR46 team". GPxtra. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
13. "Sacked Fenati apologises for grabbing rival rider's brake". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
14. Church, Ben. "Romano Fenati: Moto2 rider apologizes for grabbing rival's brake". CNN. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
15. "Fenati out of MV Agusta and Forward Racing Team project". MotoGP.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
16. "Romano Fenati retires after having his Moto2 contract cancelled over Stefano Manzi clash". Retrieved 15 September 2018.
17. "Motorcycle Racer Fired From Team After Grabbing Competitor's Brake During Race". roadandtrack.com. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.

External links

• Profile on motogp.com

Sporting positions
Preceded by Maverick Viñales	European 125cc Champion 2011	Succeeded by Matteo Ferrari