Motorcycle racing is full of thrills, spills, and nail-biting action, and that’s probably why the vast majority of people who watch it enjoy it so much. However, as much as it’s exciting to see our favorite racers take on the circuit and vie for a championship title, there’s a lot of drama that goes on behind the scenes, and oftentimes, this drama doesn’t make it to the screen and is kept under wraps.
Well, the recently concluded Aragon round of the MotoGP World Championship had no shortage of drama. From Marquez’s disappointing return which resulted in Quartararo and Nakagami hitting the pavement in the opening lap, the drama wasn’t limited to the premiere class, as a scuffle in the Moto3 class resulted in two mechanics being issued a two-race ban following some unsportsman-like conduct. The incident that occured in pit lane was bizarre to say the least, and is considered as a deliberate attempt to sabotage the qualifying run of an opposing team.
This is what happened in #Moto3 Q2 today. @31AdriFernandez was denied to leave in the good group for the QP time, by another team. Unacceptable. @MotoGP @Max_Racing_Team 👍🏻#AragonGP pic.twitter.com/BgfRAMfu2S
— Tech3 Racing (@Tech3Racing) September 17, 2022
What exactly happened was that Tech3 KTM rider Adrian Fernandez was blocked from exiting pit lane by mechanics from the Max Racing Team during the late stages of qualifying. If you watch the footage closely, it even looks like one of the mechanics pulled in the front brake of Fernandez’s bike. Luckily, Moto3 bikes are incredibly light, and Fernandez was able to keep his balance. Imagine if someone had done this to a Moto2 or MotoGP rider. Now, why exactly they did this isn’t exactly clear, however, the consequences of their actions certainly were.
It gets crazier the more you watch it 🤯
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 17, 2022
This was the moment in #Moto3 Q2 that saw 2 mechanics slapped with a 2 race ban 💥#AragonGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/NCUGDbO5al
As a result, Fernandez could not exit the pits in time to set a fast lap record, as his motorcycle stalled after being blocked by the two mechanics. This left Fernandez at 15th position on the starting grid. Following the incident, Tech3 KTM reported it to MotoGP management, and a full-on investigation was launched. The team, as well as MotoGP itself, took to social media to post the footage of the incident for everyone to see. Unsurprisingly, actions as unsportsmanly as this are deserving of some strict sanctions, and the two Max Racing mechanics were issued bans for the next two races in the calendar.
Following the incident, Max Racing formally apologized to Tech3 KTM, and made it clear that the riders of their team, as well as management as a whole, had no involvement in the actions of the two mechanics. Do you think that the two-race ban issued to the two mechanics is a just outcome?
