Kio Fujibayashi

Kio Fujibayashi is a Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle racer. She is the founder and currently the CEO of FRT (Fujibayashi Racing Team)

2002 Controversy

During the 2002 Pacific Grand Prix, Fujibayashi was battling with another rider. She was racing with her injured arm she sustained 2 races prior which ruled her out of the next race. She made a prior mistake as her sprained and slipped off the throttle according to Post-Race telemetry and largely missed Corner Turn 8 at high speed and when she rejoined she nearly collided with the other rider. Fujibayashi continued to race for another lap before she opted to retire from the race. The stewards swiftly responded to the incident and fined her for what they described her actions as "dangerous". Fujibayashi was angered and eventually confronted at the stewards office after the race and was retroactively given a 1 race ban for "professionnal conduct". Her team and other teams on the grid and many motorcycling fans including those from the Japanese Motorcycling community where uproar'ed over the steward's treatment on the female rider as it's believed that sexism played a part. Fujibayashi decided to protest against MotoGP and took the last few races of the 2002 season off.