Romano Fenati is one of the rookies arriving this year in Moto2. After six years in Moto3, he finished vice-world champion last year and therefore naturally chose to move up to the intermediate category. His team, the Marinelli Snipers Team, decided to support him by creating a structure around him.
Although discreet since the start of the season, he stood out several times during testing, without having yet succeeded in making a comeback in the race.
On the occasion of the French Grand Prix, he spoke for us about his debut in Moto2 during an exclusive interview.
In Qatar, you were third in FP1. You then remained in the top 10 in each session before qualifying fifth. If we remove the tire problem that you had in the race and which prevented you from fighting at the front, you were indeed at the front from your first Grand Prix in the category. It's hard not to make the connection with your sensational arrival in Moto3, in Qatar, six years ago. Did you experience things the same way?
At twenty-two, you don't have the same maturity as at sixteen. Maybe at sixteen you experience everything with more lightness and also with a pinch of madness. At twenty-two you are more aware of things, but the emotion remains the same, at every race. Starting out is always something special, I experienced it with great enthusiasm.
The Grand Prix of Argentina and Texas were then more complicated. What difference was there with Qatar?
The track conditions were complicated and my team and I are starting this year in Moto2. It is therefore normal that in certain situations we need more time and more experience to understand what is the right path to follow.
You came back in front in Jerez: seventh in the combined times of the free sessions, and ninth in qualifying. In the race you fought at the front before contact with another driver caused you to fall. So you seem comfortable on the bike. How did you manage to adapt so quickly from Moto3 to Moto2?
We tested a lot in Jerez during the winter and I was already very fast during the last tests. My adaptation to Moto2 is not finished, on the contrary. Each race we progress a little and I always come back with something new that will help me little by little to get to the front. Despite the crash in the race at Jerez, the work we did really showed. We must continue like this, always doing better.
What do you think still needs to improve?
I discovered it Grand Prix after Grand Prix. We still have to make a difference in the management of the race, but it is experience that will allow us to do so, so we will get there!
Your team, the Marinelli Snipers Team, accompanied you in Moto2 this year and is therefore starting in the category alongside you. Is the fact that everyone starts while already knowing each other a handicap or a strength in your opinion?
Moto2 is a very difficult category and, as I said, experience is fundamental. We don't have it, but we know our potential and we know how far we can reach. For me it's a strength.
When you arrived in Qatar, what objective did you set for your first season in Moto2? Given what you have shown in four races, have you revised this objective upwards?
I haven't set any particular goals for myself, other than progressing from Grand Prix to Grand Prix. Achieve the result little by little, and by becoming aware of it. If it happens sooner, great!
