"Leopard's image severely damaged": the case rocking Moto3—how will it end?

Leopard Racing in the eye of the storm after the shock disqualification handed down in Hungary. The Moto3 team is ready to defend itself. 

While waiting to learn Leopard Racing’s line of defense (they are proceeding through legal channels, as we reported), there remains bewilderment over a shock disqualification that has inevitably caused quite a stir. The accusation of having tampered with two engines on Adrian Fernandez’s bike has been rejected by the Moto3 squad, which stated it has evidence in its favor. The matter certainly doesn’t end here. While awaiting updates, we’re also sharing the words of team principal Miodrag Kotur to French broadcaster Canal+: like technical director Christian Lundberg, he reaffirms the determination to prove the innocence of the Italian–Luxembourgish team. 

To recap, the disqualification concerns the first six GPs of the season: after Mugello he was 3rd overall, but once the double communiqué on the engine issue arrived, Adrian Fernandez plummeted far, far down the order, completely out of the title fight. “A big surprise and a terrible penalty for us. We were summoned by the stewards and the technical director shortly after MotoGP,” said Miodrag Kotur, as reported by our colleagues at Paddock-GP. “They told us they had found damaged stickers that act as seals, just like a seal, which led them to say the engine had been opened, and after an inspection by Honda, which stated that the engine had indeed been opened, but not modified, so the engine showed no irregularities.”

However, something was already brewing at Le Mans. “Adrian finished second and underwent technical checks, so with just one engine. And after those checks, everything was normal,” continued the Leopard Racing team principal. “After the race, we handed over to IRTA an engine that was almost at the end of its life. This engine, as we learned, had been opened in Spain before the race, and the report was sent to IRTA on the Thursday before the race. We were not informed at that point, and so we raced as normal with two new engines, one for Pini and one for Fernandez, in Spain and then again at Mugello.” 

The issue, however, exploded during the round at the Tuscan circuit. “After the race, two IRTA representatives came to our garage. I asked them what was happening. They told me there had been a draw and they had to inspect the bike. I asked: ‘Which bike?’ They replied: ‘Both bikes.’ Well, I said: ‘That’s a strange draw, isn’t it?’ I asked them if they were doing the same with other teams: ‘No, no, we’re doing it with you,’” recalled Miodrag Kotur. “So the two bikes were taken to parc fermé, where they were inspected. They returned them to us, asking us to dismantle the engines and to hand over the engine used at Le Mans as well, the one that had already been inspected there.”

“We gave them everything. They took it all and on Thursday they returned the two engines that had been fitted to the bikes of Fernandez (actually Pini’s) and Adrian, the ones they had raced with at Mugello.” The third engine, which Leopard Racing was expecting to be returned, prompted a call to inform them that, as had happened in Spain, this engine too had seals and stickers found to be damaged. “This led them to believe that these engines had been opened. And so, the penalty was handed down,” added Kotur. “The engines belong to Adrian, who was therefore disqualified from all the races contested with these engines, leaving him only Mugello.” 

An affair that left the Moto3 paddock—and the wider World Championship—stunned, given the extremely heavy consequences for both team and rider. “These engines were never opened,” Miodrag Kotur reiterated forcefully. “We know very well the penalties that could result. The engines were not declared irregular—I mean after the inspection—which is why we are rather surprised.” Leopard Racing has no intention of letting it go. “All the way to the highest court of appeal,” said Lundberg, and Kotur is clearly no different. 

“We lodged an appeal, which was rejected,” recalled the Moto3 team’s principal. “Like any presumed guilty party, we have the right to defend ourselves, so we are preparing our defense.” As we reported, the team had five days to appeal to the CAI, the International Court of Appeal, so within these days. “We will pursue this matter to the very end. We will fight for our rights because Leopard’s image has been severely damaged,” Kotur stressed. “We will prove that the accusations made against us are false.” 

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