Romano Fenati (born 15 January 1996) is an Italian former motorcycle racer who competed in the FIM Road Racing World Championship between 2012 and 2023 in the Moto3 and Moto2 categories.
He was European 125 cc Champion in 2011, championship runner-up of the Italian 125GP series, and also competed in the Spanish 125GP series.
Fenati competed in Moto3 between 2012 and 2023, winning thirteen races. He raced in Moto2 in and , each time being released by his teams before the season ended. 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for the rest of the season and by termination of his contract with the Marinelli Snipers team.Fenati's FIM licence withdrawn for remainder of 2018 motorsport.com, 21 September 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2018
Fenati is amongst the riders appearing in the 2016 documentary film Il Mago Mancini ("Mancini, the Motorcycle Wizard") that describes the accomplishments of rider and constructor Guido Mancini.
Career
Moto3 World Championship Team Italia FMI (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 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.
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 underperformance 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 18th-place finish 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, which resulted in a two-race ban. His Marinelli Snipers team then terminated their contract with Fenati following the incident. In November 2018 it was announced that he would return for the 2019 season in the Moto3 class.Romano Fenati: Rider banned for pulling Stefano Manzi brake lever to return BBC Sport, Motorsport, 19 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018
Return to Moto3 VNE Snipers (2019) Fenati competed for VNE Snipers team for the whole of the 2019 Moto3 season.
Sterilgarda Max Racing Team (2020–2021) A high point of Fenati's 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.
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.Moto2. Fenati's future hangs in the balance. Boscoscuro: "I'm not happy with him." www.gpone.com, 30 April 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022Moto2 sacking stokes MotoGP riders' contract 'anger' the-race.com, 15 May 2022. Retrieved 7 August 2022
Retirement and step down from motorcycle racing
After finishing the 2023 Moto3 season and reaching the maximum permitted age according to Moto3 rules, Fenati tried to find a new contract or offer from a new factory or team around the world. However, none of the teams wanted him due to the controversies he was involved in in 2015 and 2018. Finally, he decided to retire and step away from his motorcycle career.
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. The following year he was sacked from the VR46 Team for undisclosed disciplinary reasons.
In September 2018, Fenati pulled Stefano Manzi's front brake lever during a race when both were travelling at more than . He apologised but was dropped from the Marinelli Snipers Team for the offence. His future contract to ride for Forward Racing using MV Agusta machines in 2019 was cancelled on 11 September. On 12 September, he announced his immediate retirement from racing, while suggesting that Manzi's own actions were partially responsible for the incident. 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". The authorities later determined that a charge of "private violence", similar to a road rage incident, was more appropriate.
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. He made a comeback to Moto3 for the 2019 season.
Career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
By season SeasonClassMotorcycleTeamRaceWinPodiumPoleFLapPtsPlcd Moto3 FTR Honda Team Italia FMI 17 1 4 0 2 136 6th Moto3 FTR Honda San Carlo Team Italia 17 0 0 0 0 73 10th Moto3 KTM Sky Racing Team by VR46 18 4 6 0 3 176 5th Moto3 KTM Sky Racing Team VR46 18 1 3 1 1 176 4th Moto3 KTM Sky Racing Team VR46 9 1 2 2 2 93 10th Moto3 Honda Marinelli Rivacold Snipers 18 3 8 1 3 248 2nd Moto2 Kalex Marinelli Snipers Moto2 12 0 0 0 0 14 21st Moto3 Honda VNE Snipers 16 1 1 0 2 76 16th Moto3 Husqvarna Sterilgarda Max Racing Team 15 1 1 0 1 77 14th Moto3 Husqvarna Sterilgarda Max Racing Team 18 1 4 3 1 160 5th Moto2 Boscoscuro Speed Up Racing 6 0 0 0 0 7 27th Moto3 Honda Rivacold Snipers Team 15 0 0 0 0 35 20thTotal 179 13 29 7 15 1271
By class ClassSeasons1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodiumsPoleFLapPtsWChmp 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 Total2012–2023 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 Moto3 FTR Honda QAT SPA POR FRA CAT GBR NED GER ITA INP CZE RSM ARA JPN MAL AUS VAL 6th 136 Moto3 FTR Honda QAT AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA MAL AUS JPN VAL 10th 73 Moto3 KTM QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 5th 176 Moto3 KTM QAT AME ARG SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER INP CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 4th 176 Moto3 KTM QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER AUT CZE GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 10th 93 Moto3 Honda QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER CZE AUT GBR RSM ARA JPN AUS MAL VAL 2nd 248 Moto2 Kalex QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER CZE AUT GBR RSM ARA THA JPN AUS MAL VAL 21st 14 Moto3 Honda QAT ARG AME SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER CZE AUT GBR RSM ARA THA JPN AUS MAL VAL 16th 76 Moto3 Husqvarna QAT SPA ANC CZE AUT STY RSM EMI CAT FRA ARA TER EUR VAL POR 14th 77 Moto3 Husqvarna QAT DOH POR SPA FRA ITA CAT GER NED STY AUT GBR ARA RSM AME EMI ALR VAL 5th 160 Moto2 Boscoscuro QAT INA ARG AME POR SPA FRA ITA CAT GER NED GBR AUT RSM ARA JPN THA AUS MAL VAL 27th 7 Moto3 Honda POR ARG AME SPA FRA ITA GER NED GBR AUT CAT RSM IND JPN INA AUS THA MAL QAT VAL 20th 35
References
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