MotoGP winner’s brother has huge Moto3 penalty overturned in shock FIM ruling

Leopard Racing has won its FIM International Court of Appeal case to have a six-race Moto3 disqualification for Adrian Fernandez overturned in a shock ruling.

In June of this year, the FIM stewards announced that it had disqualified Adrian Fernandez, brother of double MotoGP race winner Raul Fernandez, from six of the first seven rounds of the 2026 season.

His Leopard Racing team had been found to have opened the seal on two of his engines by the FIM’s technical direction without authorisation.

This led to him being disqualified from the Thai, Brazilian, United States, Spanish, French and Catalan Grands Prix.

Leopard wins appeal at FIM Court

Leopard appealed the decision to the FIM’s International Court of Appeal, which has sensationally ruled in the outfit’s favour.

An official statement from the FIM CoA read: “The FIM International Court of Appeal announced three important decisions: the appeals lodged by Leopard Racing and Adrian Fernandez against the decisions of 5 June were declared admissible.

“The appeals were upheld on the merits, and the two decisions by the FIM Appeals Commissioners were set aside; the relevant sporting authorities must now take the necessary measures in accordance with the ruling.”

The statement added: “The ruling overturns the previous sporting decisions, although the detailed legal and technical grounds for their annulment will only be known once the reasoned judgment has been examined.”

The ruling was issued on 15 October.

The FIM’s Technical Commission can appeal this decision within the next four weeks and take the matter back through the courts.

It is not known at this stage if this will be the case.

But the ruling, should it not be contested, will raise serious questions about the technical inspection process in place in MotoGP and how the original penalty decision was made.

What does the ruling mean for Adrian Fernandez?

Fernandez had been third in the championship at the time of the original penalty.

The six-race disqualification saw him lose 77 points from the championship standings. He currently sits 14th.

MotoGP will now need to reinstate these results, which will push Fernandez back up to fifth on 148 points ahead of Marco Morelli on 146.

On the recent ruling, Leopard said: “We thank all our supporters for the unwavering support they have given us throughout this difficult period.

“We express our sincere gratitude to our experts, all the witnesses, and our legal team, who have restored the honour and dignity of the Leopard Racing team and its rider, Adrian Fernandez.”