Rennie Scaysbrook | September 10, 2018
Romano Fenati’s 2018 and 2019 Contracts Terminated.–Romano Fenati’s career as a Grand Prix rider seems to be over after the 22-year-old reached out and grabbed the front brake lever of rival Stefano Manzi during the San Marino Moto2 race at the weekend. Fenati’s actions resulted in him receiving a two-race ban from Dorna, losing his ride with the Marinelli Snipers team for the rest of the 2018 season and losing his 2019 ride with MV Agusta on its return to Grand Prix racing.
Romano Fenati’s 2018 and 2019 Contracts Terminated
Fenati’s brain snap could be his last ever in Grand Prix racing with his career now seemingly over.
Fenati’s actions were in response to reckless riding from Manzi, one that saw him push compatriot Fenati off the track after misjudging an overtake at Turn 14 and one that Manzi himself would receive a six-place grid penalty for at the next round of Aragon. However, Fenati’s drew widespread condemnation from the international racing community, with many top riders, including LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, calling for Fenati to receive a lifetime ban from racing.
Fenati released a statement on September 10, apologizing for his actions and wishing it “had all been a bad dream.”
“I apologize to the world of sport,” Fenati said. “This morning, with a lucid mind, I wish it had just been a bad dream. I think about and think back to those moments, I made a disgraceful gesture, I was not a man! The criticisms are correct and I understand the animosity towards me.
I want to apologize to everyone who believed in me and all those who felt hurt by my action.
A horrible image of me and of the sport has come out.”
The fallout from the incident will likely affect Fenati’s ability to secure a ride in any world championship team, with the Marinelli Snipers team terminating his contract via a statement released to the media on September 10.
“Now we can communicate that the Marinelli Snipers Team shall terminate the contract with the rider Romano Fenati, from now on, for his unsporting, dangerous and damaging conduct,” the statement read. “With extreme regret, we have to note that his irresponsible act endangered the life of another rider and can’t be apologized [for] in no way.”
Just last month, Fenati secured one of the top jobs for the 2019 Moto2 Championship as the lead rider for the returning MV Agusta manufacturer, however, CEO Giovanni Castiglioni immediately condemned his future rider Fenati on social media after the event, saying, “This has been the worst and saddest thing I [have] ever seen in a bike race,” Castiglioni wrote. “True sportsmen would never act this way. If I would be [series promoter] Dorna, I would ban him from world racing.”
It later emerged Fenati’s 2019 contract had been terminated by MV Agusta.
“In all my years of watching sport, I have never seen behavior as dangerous as this,” Castiglioni said in an official statement. “A rider who can act like this can never represent the values of our company for our brand. For this reason, we do not want him to be the rider with which MV Agusta makes its return to the World Championship.”
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