I’m actually surprised I’m kicking off the 2022 MotoGP season with an opinion column like this one.
I genuinely thought, perhaps a tad naively, that the lessons of 2021 had started to sink in not only for the riders on the Moto3 grid but also to the series’ FIM Race Stewards.
But here we are, not even one race into the new season, and already we’re looking incredulously at a rider sanction notice.
Ahead of the Moto3 race at the Qatar Grand Prix it was announced that Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia would serve a single long lap penalty for some of the most egregiously dangerous riding that we’ve seen recently.
Sure, he had to head to the back of the grid and serve a second long lap penalty when the race got underway, joined by polesitter Izan Guevara and his team-mate Tetsuki Suzuki.
A huge setback for three of the big hitters 😮@dennisfoggia71, @TatsukiSuzuki24 and @IzanGuevara28 will start from the back of the grid and serve a long lap penalty! 🚨
And this is why 👇#Moto3 | #QatarGP 🇶🇦 pic.twitter.com/HQyrpnaFcT
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 6, 2022
But the bulk of the combination of penalties was for merging dangerously onto the racing line at the pit exit in qualifying rather than for the even more reckless actions that came two laps later.
Coming across the start finish line at the lead of a gaggle of riders who had obviously jumped onto title favourite Foggia’s tail in an attempt to follow him to a fast lap, it looked like the Italian took the one measure he believed would make sure they didn’t beat his own time – he cannonballed himself back and forth across the main straight at 150mph, swinging literally from side to side of the track to disrupt the others.
He wasn’t alone, either, with Aspar rider Sergio Garcia in his slipstream and following his extreme moves, only to, even more incredibly, get away without a single penalty for his actions. Foggia was able to fight back through to seventh in the race.
The crazy thing is, it’s only six months since the Grand Prix of the Americas, where Deniz Oncu, doing a similar thing during the race wiped out Jeremy Alcoba, Andrea Migno and Pedro Acosta in the process.
Triggering the red flag and bringing the race to a halt, it was one of the most terrifying crashes that we’ve witnessed in a long time in the class.
Oncu was immediately handed a two-race ban, prevented from running at the next two races in what was taken as a sign that the FIM stewards, headed up by multiple world champion Freddie Spencer, were going to take safety violations more seriously. That doesn’t appear to be the case judging from Sunday’s actions.
The Race has requested a comment on the thinking behind the penalty decisions, but these are not usually made available.
Which brings us to the point of this almost-a-rant from me. It’s something I’ve written about before, but unfortunately it’s something that needs mentioning again.
MotoGP penalties simply have to stop being reactive, and direction from race control needs to be proactive if riders are going to get the message.
It’s not good enough to penalise someone for causing a crash. If the intent is there, then almost causing a crash has to be treated with the same level of severity when it comes to punishment.
The fact that Foggia has got away almost scot free with what he did means no one will be seriously dissuaded from doing it again.
If he’d been hit with a race ban, that would have maybe been different – and in this sport, making racers properly think twice about such riding could save a life.
