Romano Fenati

Romano Fenati (born 15 January 1996) is an Italian motorcycle racer who competed in the FIM Road Racing World Championship between 2012 and 2023 in the Moto3 and Moto2 categories.

Romano Fenati
Fenati at the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1996-01-15) 15 January 1996 (age 28) Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2018, 2022 Manufacturers Kalex (2018) Boscoscuro (2022) Championships 0 2022 championship position 27th (7 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 18 0 0 0 0 21 Moto3 World Championship Active years 2012–2017, 2019–2021,2023 Manufacturers FTR Honda (2012–2013) KTM (2014–2016) Honda (2017, 2019), (2023-) Husqvarna (2020–2021) Championships 0 2023 championship position 20th (35 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 161 13 29 7 14 1250

He was European 125 cc Champion in 2011,^[1] championship runner-up of the Italian 125GP series, and also competed in the Spanish 125GP series.

Romano Fenati competed in Moto3 beween 2012 and 2023, winning thirteen races. He raced in Moto2 in 2018 and 2022, each time being released by his teams before season end. He finally left Moto3 after the 2023 season as he had reached the maximum permitted age of 28 years old.

Fenati's conduct has led to disciplinary action from teams and authorities. Amongst these is an incident during a Moto2 race in September 2018, when he pulled alongside rival Stefano Manzi at speed, reached across and grabbed Manzi's front brake lever. This dangerous action was punished by Fenati's racing licence being revoked for the rest of the season and by termination of his contract with the Marinelli Snipers team.^[2][3][4]

Career

Born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, Fenati is featured in the 2016 documentary film Il Mago Mancini ("Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard").^[5]

Moto3 World Championship

Team Italia FMI (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 rider in Grand Prix motorcycle racing history to lead the World Championship. He finished 6th in the championship.^[6]

San Carlo Team Italia (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.

Sky Racing Team VR46 (2014–2016)

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.

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.

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.

Marinelli Rivacold Snipers (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

Marinelli Snipers Moto2 (2018)

On 9 September 2018, at the 2018 San Marino Grand Prix, Fenati was immediately disqualified after grabbing the front brake lever of rival rider Stefano Manzi,^[7] which resulted in a two-race ban. His Marinelli Snipers team then terminated their contract with Fenati following the incident.^[8] In November 2018 it was announced that he would return for the 2019 season in the Moto3 class.^[9][10]

Return to Moto3

VNE Snipers (2019)

He competed for VNE Snipers team for the whole of the 2019 Moto3 season.

Sterilgarda Max Racing Team (2020–2021)

A high point of this time with the team was qualifying in pole position for the 2021 Austrian GP, a feat that he had last achieved at the British Grand Prix in 2017.^[11]

Rivacold Snipers Team (2023)

For the 2023 season, Fenati competed in Moto3 with Rivacold Snipers Team.

Return to Moto2

Speed Up Racing (2022)

Fenati joined Speed Up Racing to compete in Moto2 for the 2022 season. After the first few races, in May 2022, Fenati was sacked from the team because of poor results.^[12][13][14]

Controversies

Fenati has interfered with other riders a number of times. In the 2015 Argentine Grand Prix, he 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.^[15] The following year he was sacked from the VR46 Team for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.^[16]

In September 2018, Fenati pulled Stefano Manzi's front brake lever 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.^[17][18] His future contract to ride for Forward Racing using MV Agusta machines in 2019 was cancelled on 11 September.^[19] On 12 September, he announced his immediate retirement from racing, while suggesting that Manzi's own actions were partially responsible for the incident.^[20] An Italian consumer-rights group, Codacons, subsequently stated that it had raised the matter with local prosecutors and asked them to investigate "any relevant criminal offences, including that of attempted murder".^[21] The authorities later determined that a charge of "private violence", similar to a road rage incident, was more appropriate.^[22]

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.^[3] He made a comeback to Moto3 for the 2019 season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	Team Italia FMI	17	1	4	0	2	136	6th
2013	Moto3	FTR Honda	San Carlo Team Italia	17	0	0	0	0	73	10th
2014	Moto3	KTM	Sky Racing Team by VR46	18	4	6	0	3	176	5th
2015	Moto3	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	18	1	3	1	1	176	4th
2016	Moto3	KTM	Sky Racing Team VR46	9	1	2	2	2	93	10th
2017	Moto3	Honda	Marinelli Rivacold Snipers	18	3	8	1	2	248	2nd
2018	Moto2	Kalex	Marinelli Snipers Moto2	12	0	0	0	0	14	21st
2019	Moto3	Honda	VNE Snipers	16	1	1	0	2	76	16th
2020	Moto3	Husqvarna	Sterilgarda Max Racing Team	15	1	1	0	1	77	14th
2021	Moto3	Husqvarna	Sterilgarda Max Racing Team	18	1	4	3	1	160	5th
2022	Moto2	Boscoscuro	Speed Up Racing	6	0	0	0	0	7	27th
2023	Moto3	Honda	Rivacold Snipers Team	15	0	0	0	0	35	20th
Total				179	13	29	7	14	1271

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto3	2012–2017, 2019–2021, 2023	2012 Qatar	2012 Qatar	2012 Spain	161	13	29	7	14	1250	0
Moto2	2018, 2022	2018 Qatar			18	0	0	0	0	21	0
Total	2012–2023				179	13	29	7	14	1271	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	20	Pos	Pts
2012	Moto3	FTR Honda	QAT 2	SPA 1	POR Ret	FRA Ret	CAT 9	GBR 7	NED 12	GER 24	ITA 2	INP 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	INP 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	INP 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	INP 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 13	ANC 12	CZE 9	AUT 17	STY 17	RSM 8	EMI 1	CAT 6	FRA Ret	ARA 4	TER 19	EUR 13	VAL 12	POR 20						14th	77
2021	Moto3	Husqvarna	QAT 11	DOH 10	POR 7	SPA 2	FRA 10	ITA 6	CAT 11	GER 13	NED 3	STY 3	AUT 5	GBR 1	ARA 14	RSM Ret	AME 12	EMI 7	ALR 7	VAL 12			5th	160
2022	Moto2	Boscoscuro	QAT 15	INA 19	ARG 18	AME 15	POR 11	SPA Ret	FRA	ITA	CAT	GER	NED	GBR	AUT	RSM	ARA	JPN	THA	AUS	MAL	VAL	27th	7
2023	Moto3	Honda	POR 19	ARG 13	AME 16	SPA 11	FRA 19	ITA 17	GER 18	NED 8	GBR 10	AUT 17	CAT 14	RSM 10	IND DNS	JPN	INA	AUS	THA	MAL Ret	QAT 11	VAL 16	20th	35

* Season still in progress.

References

1. "European Championship 125cc Albacete: trionfo italiano, Romano Fenati è campione europeo" (in Italian). Corsedimoto. 9 October 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
2. "Romano Fenati retires from motorcycling after being sacked for pulling brake of Moto2 rival Stefano Manzi". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
3. Fenati's FIM licence withdrawn for remainder of 2018 motorsport.com, 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018
4. "Romano Fenati sacked by team after pulling rival's brake lever at high speed". The Guardian. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
5. "Il Mago Mancini (2016), di Jeffrey Zani" (in Italian). CinemaItaliano.info. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
6. Lewis, Lisa (29 April 2012). "Fantastic Fenati romps to first win". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
7. "Watch: Moto2 rider disqualified for grabbing rival's brake lever". Independent.co.uk. 10 September 2018.
8. sport, Guardian (10 September 2018). "Romano Fenati sacked by team after pulling rival's brake lever at high speed". the Guardian.
9. Romano Fenati: Rider banned for pulling Stefano Manzi brake lever to return BBC Sport, Motorsport, 19 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018
10. "2019 provisional entry lists revealed". motogp.com. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
11. "MotoGP: Fenati returns to pole four years later". US. 15 August 2021. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
12. Moto2. Fenati's future hangs in the balance. Boscoscuro: "I'm not happy with him." www.gpone.com, 30 April 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022
13. "Moto2, LATEST NEWS - SpeedUp team splits with Romano Fenati". GPOne. 5 May 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
14. Moto2 sacking stokes MotoGP riders' contract 'anger' the-race.com, 15 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022
15. "MotoGP racer kicks competitor while going around a corner, then shuts off his bike". USA Today. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
16. "Rossi confirms Romano Fenati has left the VR46 team". GPxtra. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
17. "Sacked Fenati apologises for grabbing rival rider's brake". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
18. Church, Ben (10 September 2018). "Romano Fenati: Moto2 rider apologizes for grabbing rival's brake". CNN. Retrieved 11 September 2018.
19. "Fenati out of MV Agusta and Forward Racing Team project". MotoGP.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
20. "Romano Fenati retires after having his Moto2 contract cancelled over Stefano Manzi clash". Independent.co.uk. 11 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
21. "Motorcycle Racer Fired From Team After Grabbing Competitor's Brake During Race". roadandtrack.com. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
22. "Banned Moto2 rider Romano Fenati ordered to court over brake pull incident". Autoweek. 6 September 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2021.

External links

• Romano Fenati at MotoGP.com
• Romano Fenati at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
• Romano Fenati at AS.com (in Spanish)

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