News dropped on Thursday, June 4, at the Grand Prix of Hungary that Moto3 title contender Adrian Fernandez had been disqualified from each of the first six races due to an engine seal on two engines of his Leopard Honda Moto3 machine being breached.
As part of cost-control regulations, it’s against the rules to open or tamper with Moto3 engines. The seal was found broken on the first engine after the French GP and on the second after the Italian GP. “The Technical Director determined, based on physical inspection, manufacturer evidence and examination of the engine seals, that the integrity of the approved sealing system had been compromised and that the engine had been opened without authorization,” read an official statement.
Thus, Fernandez has lost the 77 points he scored in the first six races, dropping him from third to 20th in the championship. Of his six allocated engines for the year, four have now been removed, as each guilty engine was treated as two. “An engine with damaged, tampered with or missing security seals is deemed to have been rebuilt and must be treated as a new engine in the rider allocation.”
Leopard appealed the decision but was ultimately dismissed. A team statement read, “The team considers that no clear evidence has been presented to establish whether and when the infringement is said to have occurred.”
It has five days to appeal to the International Court of Appeals.
This is the first time a situation like this has occurred in Moto3.CN
