In a video posted to his social media on Wednesday, Carlos Tatay called out the FIM for refusing to cover his disability insurance following the spinal injury that ended his motorcycle racing career. To add insult to metaphorical and literal injury, he stated the FIM denied his disability status altogether by citing an article about him competing in cross-country rallies in a side-by-side vehicle.
Tatay was paralysed from the waist down while competing in the 2023 Moto2 European Championship weekend at Portimão, suffering an incomplete spinal cord injury when he fell off his bike and slid into the tyre barrier. He continues to use a wheelchair today due to the injury.
During his recovery in the immediate months following the accident, the Spanish and Valencian motorcycle federations—both FIM members—were embroiled in a legal dispute over who should cover his medical expenses once he returned to Spain. Much of the issue could be traced to new FIM rules in 2023 that required each ASN to update their insurance policies, though Tatay noted neither federation had done so in time and were still operating on the law from 1993.
Tatay continues to have an FIM licence despite no longer racing a bike, meaning he is still considered an FIM member and therefore eligible for the federation’s insurance. In the event of permanent disability, a rider would receive at most fifty thousand euros to pay for their medical insurance.
However, the 21-year-old pointed out his inquiries to the FIM went disastrously.
“The FIM only pays me if I stay on the couch,” began Tatay. “I’m not going to get an email from those shameless people at the FIM, where I sent all my documentation, my injury report from when I was in the hospital in Toledo this past July. They did a full examination and reported a handful of injuries, including one that states I have a complete spinal cord injury, which is chronic and therefore I suffer from a disability.
“We sent that documentation to the FIM so they would take responsibility for the compensation for when a rider suffers a disability. Do you know what they told me? Do you know what those disrespectful people told me?
“They said that I don’t have a disability. With it, they attached a link to a news article saying that I’m competing in rallies. But what does that have to do with anything? What kind of logic is that?”
With a return to bikes obviously impossible, Tatay switched to cross-country rally in a Polaris RZR Pro R. He made his début at the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship‘s Baja Lorca – Ciudad del Sol, where he ran as high as third but finished last in class due to mechanical issues. In July, he entered the FIA World Baja Cup‘s Baja España Aragón and placed eleventh in the SSV category.
He originally hoped to race the Dakar Rally in 2025, but scheduling obligations limited his 2024 slate so he pushed those aspirations to 2026.
“They’ve built new offices, their new building, and all their new things, spending money here and there. But when it comes to doing things right, they don’t,” he continued, referring to the FIM’s new headquarters that opened earlier in October. “What a joke of an insurance policy—the Valencian Federation, the Spanish Federation, and now the International Federation. What a bunch of shameless people.
“This is how they treat us. This is how they treat riders who risk their lives, thinking we’re protected and insured. And it’s all garbage.”
It is not uncommon for people with disabilities to enter rally raids in a car, and the Spanish Championship even has the non-competition ParaBaja Step by Step class for such racers to enter (although Tatay is eligible, he prefers to compete in the standard categories). As such, he understandably finds it absurd that this would disqualify him from receiving disability assistance.
“Carlos Tatay, at just 21 years old, gave a true lesson in perseverance by returning to compete in motorsport precisely due to the aftermath of the accident in Portimão,” reads a statement from ParaBaja. “It is absolutely unacceptable to justify refusing to compensate someone because they want to remain in the world of sport, facing their own limitations due to a spinal cord injury, and fighting for their future.
“Gentlemen of the FIM, whatever Carlos Tatay does from now on, he will do it from his wheelchair. Your lack of sensitivity is clear; at least take responsibility.”
The injury derailed a burgeoning career in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, where Tatay won the 2019 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup before competing in the Moto3 World Championship.