Moto2 World Championship rider Romano Fenati has been sacked from his current racing team, the Marinelli Snipers Team, and his contract with Forward Racing MV Agusta Moto2 team for 2019 has been terminated.
Stefano Manzi attempted to overtake Fenati during the Moto2 World Championship race on Sunday September 9th in Misano, but this overtaking attempt resulted in contact between the two riders and they both ran off the track.
In obvious retaliation, Fenati reached over Manzi with his left hand and put on the front brakes on Manzi’s racing bike as they went straight down the front at 135 mph.
For his actions, the FIM disqualified Fenati from the race and suspended the Italian from the next two races.
Fenati’s current team, Marinelli Snipers Team, issued a statement Monday morning stating that they would be terminating the driver. This statement read:
“Here we are. Now we can announce that the Marinelli Snipers team will terminate the contract with the driver Romano Fenati with immediate effect because of his unsporting, dangerous and the reputation of all damaging behavior. It is with great regret that we have to state that his irresponsible behavior Has endangered another rider’s life and cannot be excused in any way. The rider will no longer participate in races with the Marinelli Snipers team from that point in time. The team, Marinelli Cucine, Rivacold and all the other sponsors and the people who run him always supported, apologized to all World Cup fans. “
About an hour later on Monday morning, Forward Racing MV Agusta made the following statement:
Fenati will no longer be part of our project
The serious misconduct by Romano Fenati towards Stefano Manzi during the Moto2 race during the Gran Premio di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini, which took place at the Circuito Marco Simoncelli in Misano Adriatico, will have an impact on the future, about the black flag for Fenati. and the ban on two races imposed by the race management. MV Agusta will not be represented by Fenati in 2019, the year the Varese plant returns to the highest levels of motorcycle racing and the Moto2 World Championship. The agreement between the MV Agusta Reparto Corse Forward Racing Team and Romano Fenati has ended.
Giovanni Castiglioni, President of MV Agusta, said: “In all my years watching sport, I have never seen behavior as dangerous as this. A driver who can act like this can never represent our company’s values for our brand. For this reason we don’t want him to be the driver with whom MV Agusta returns to the world championship. “
Giovanni Cuzari, team owner: “After the shameful episode between Romano Fenati and Stefano Manzi, it is impossible for the team to maintain the planned cooperation with the driver from Ascoli for the 2019 season. Fenati’s behavior is incompatible with the sporting values of the Forward Racing Team and MV Agusta. For this reason, even if we regret it bitterly, we are forced to cancel our project with Fenati. Our sport is already extremely dangerous and any act that increases the risk to the riders is unbearable. We cannot accept such behavior from one of our future drivers. “
At the next Grand Prix, Manzi received a penalty of six starting places for his “irresponsible” attempt to overtake Fenati.