The RNF Aprilia entity has been cast out ahead of the 2024 season due to “repeated infractions and breaches of the Participation Agreement”, with new owners set to snap up its remnants.
The outfit, which was born out of the ashes of the Petronas SRT outfit ahead of the 2022 season thanks to the efforts of team principal Razlan Razali, has reportedly struggled to pay bills and salaries across the 2023 campaign.
According to Motorcycle Sports the team’s majority owner, Romanian I.T data encryption company Cryptodata which purchased 60% of the operation at the end of last year, also owed half of the money for the brand’s title sponsorship of August’s Austrian GP.
Things took an unexpected turn ahead during the Valencia GP weekend as Razali announced he had been removed from the team on Friday evening before RNF shared a press release rubbishing speculation of its financial woes and that it had rejected a takeover bid from another party two weeks ago.
The story took another turn on Monday morning though as the MotoGP Selection Committee, which is made up of FIM, IRTA, and Dorna Sports, announced that it had rescinded the grid places from the RNF team ahead of the 2024 season. The MotoGP Selection Committee holds the right to take back any grid places from teams if they bring the sport into disrepute.
“Repeated infractions and breaches of the Participation Agreement affecting the public image of MotoGP™ have obliged this decision,” began the brief statement released on Monday following the season-ending Valencia GP.
“The Selection Committee will be reviewing applications for a new Independent Team, using Aprilia machinery, to join the MotoGP™ class grid for 2024.”
