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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Fenati at the 2013 Catalan Grand Prix. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 15 January 1996 Ascoli Piceno, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current team | VNE Snipers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bike number | 55 [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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
2012
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. 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
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 Moto 3 for the 2019 season.
Career statistics
By season
| Season | Class | Bike | Team | Number | Races | Wins | Podiums | Poles | F.Laps | Points | 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 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 67* | 9th* |
| Total | 119 | 11 | 24 | 4 | 11 | 974 |
Races by year
(key)
| 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 |
RSM |
ARA |
THA |
JPN |
AUS |
MAL |
VAL |
9th* | 67* |
* Season still in progress.
References
- ^ a b c "2019 provisional entry lists revealed". motogp.com. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ^ "European Championship 125cc Albacete: trionfo italiano, Romano Fenati è campione europeo" (in Italian). Corsedimoto. 9 October 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ "Romano Fenati retires from motorcycling after being sacked for pulling brake of Moto2 rival Stefano Manzi". independent.co.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- ^ a b Fenati's FIM licence withdrawn for remainder of 2018 motorsport.com, 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018
- ^ "Fenati set to make Grand Prix return in 2019". motogp.com. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ^ "Il Mago Mancini (2016), di Jeffrey Zani" (in Italian). CinemaItaliano.info. Retrieved 13 September 2018.
- ^ Lewis, Lisa (29 April 2012). "Fantastic Fenati romps to first win". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. Retrieved 29 April 2012.
- ^ "Watch: Moto2 rider disqualified for grabbing rival's brake lever".
- ^ sport, Guardian (10 September 2018). "Romano Fenati sacked by team after pulling rival's brake lever at high speed". the Guardian.
- ^ Romano Fenati: Rider banned for pulling Stefano Manzi brake lever to return BBC Sport, Motorsport, 19 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018
- ^ "MotoGP racer kicks competitor while going around a corner, then shuts off his bike". USA Today. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Rossi confirms Romano Fenati has left the VR46 team". GPxtra. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
- ^ "Sacked Fenati apologises for grabbing rival rider's brake". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
- ^ CNN, Ben Church,. "Romano Fenati: Moto2 rider apologizes for grabbing rival's brake". Retrieved 11 September 2018.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Fenati out of MV Agusta and Forward Racing Team project". MotoGP.com. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
- ^ "Romano Fenati retires after having his Moto2 contract cancelled over Stefano Manzi clash". Retrieved 15 September 2018.
- ^ "Motorcycle Racer Fired From Team After Grabbing Competitor's Brake During Race". roadandtrack.com. 10 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.