Leopard Racing Takes a Confrontational Stance Following Moto3 Disqualification – Christian Lundberg Rejects All Allegations and Announces a Legal Battle
The controversy surrounding Leopard Racing’s spectacular disqualification overshadowed the Moto3 World Championship race in Hungary. After Adrian Fernandez was retroactively removed from the standings for the first six races of the season, Leopard Technical Director Christian Lundberg responded with sharp criticism of those responsible and announced a full-scale legal battle.
The dispute stems from two Honda engines, where the Technical Directorate of the FIM claims to have found tampering with the seals and evidence of unauthorized opening of the engines.
Lundberg firmly rejects the allegations. Speaking to DAZN, he stated that Leopard would pursue the matter “to the very end of every legal proceeding on this planet.” The team would hire the “best lawyers” and did not intend to leave the World Championship “with our heads down and our tails between our legs.”
The Swede is particularly critical of the basis for the sanction. According to his account, the engines were last inspected at Mugello and deemed compliant with the rules. Nevertheless, the disqualification applies to six of the first seven races of the season.
The penalty is based on an alleged violation involving two engines, “for which there is no credible evidence incriminating us.” Leopard is therefore defending itself against accusations that, in the team’s view, are not sufficiently substantiated.
Engine sticker damaged, but what does that mean?
The FIM sees the case differently. According to the stewards, damaged or tampered seals were found on the engines with numbers 810 and 811. Investigations by the manufacturer Honda and the Technical Directorate concluded that the engines had been opened without authorization. The team has already filed an appeal, but the request was rejected.
This leaves Leopard with no option but to appeal to higher authorities. Lundberg attempts to provide a technical explanation for the irregularities in question. He claims the actual wire seals with stamps were intact. The real issue, he argues, was the stickers used to seal the joints between the engine casing and the cylinder head.
According to the technical director, Leopard has been using a corrosion inhibitor for years when transporting the motorcycles back to Europe from Thailand after overseas races. These stickers can be damaged during the subsequent cleaning and blowing out of the engines with compressed air.
“If the seals are damaged, we go directly to the IRTA and inform them,” says Lundberg. This has never been an issue in the past. That is why the team could not understand the authorities’ current reaction.
After all, damage to the stickers is by no means unusual in the paddock: “I’d like to know which teams have never had problems with these engine stickers.”
Leopard publicly questions the FIM’s actions
He is even more explicit in his assessment of the behind-the-scenes events. Recently, there had already been tensions with race control and the Technical Director. Lundberg expresses the suspicion that they wanted to issue a warning to the team and used the discussion about the seals for that purpose.
“But we are completely innocent,” he emphasizes. All pre-race inspections during the season had revealed no irregularities. The seals had been checked before the race weekends and all results had been in the team’s favor.
That is why he wonders how the officials were suddenly able to identify the alleged defects after taking possession of the engines. “We feel like we’re in a nightmare where one of the protagonists has everything stacked against them,” says Lundberg, now calling for a swift resolution of the case.
He points to the 2020 Yamaha engine case, in which non-compliant components were indeed found, but the situation was later partially rectified. In the current case, however, it is merely an alleged violation. Therefore, the proceedings must be expedited so that Adrian Fernandez can regain the points he lost in the World Championship battle.
While Leopard prepares its legal offensive, the sporting impact of the decision remains enormous. Due to the disqualification, Fernandez lost 77 World Championship points and plummeted from third to 20th place in the overall standings.
The Spaniard’s title hopes have thus suffered a severe blow. It remains to be seen whether the story will take yet another turn in court.
