Gianluca Vizziello (born 3 March 1980 in

Policoro Policoro ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. With some 17,000 inhabitants, is bounded by the towns of Rotondella, Scanzano Jonico and Tursi. Situated on the coast, its po ...

) is an Italian

motorcycle racer Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Oth ...

. He currently competes in the CIV Supersport Championship aboard a

Kawasaki ZX-6R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R is a ''636 cc'' class motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki. It was introduced in 1995, and has been constantly updated throughout the years in response to new products ...

Career

FIM Superstock 1000 Cup

In 2000 Vizziello made his debut in the

FIM Superstock 1000 Cup The European Superstock 1000 Championship, formerly FIM Superstock 1000 Cup or Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, was a supporting class to the Superbike World Championship. Overview The series was introduced in 1999 as a European championship and in Octob ...

. He made four starts that season with a best finish of fifth at

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 1235 ...

. In 2001 Vizziello competed full-time in the championship and finished sixth in the standings. Vizziello got his first win in 2002, winning the round at Misano. With additional strong results he finished third in the championship that season. 2003 was an up and down season for Vizziello and he dropped to sixth in the championship. Vizziello had an incredibly strong 2004 season. He won 5 of the first seven races and finished second in the other two races. But after being unable to participate in the final two rounds of the season he missed out on the title by 9 points.

Superbike World Championship

Vizziello moved up to the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

for 2005, riding a

Yamaha YZF-R1 The Yamaha YZF-R1, or simply R1, is a -class sports motorcycle made by Yamaha. It was first released in 1998, undergoing significant updates in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018

for the Italia Lorenzini by Leoni team. Vizziello endured a difficult rookie season as he only scored points three times with a best finish of 10th at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical ...

. He finished 28th in the championship with 9 points. Vizziello made a surprise return to the Superbike World Championship midway through the 2015 season, riding a

Kawasaki ZX-10R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, the successor to the Ninja ZX-9R. It was originally released in 2004 and has been updated and revised throughout the years. It co ...

for the Grillini SBK Team for the remainder of the season. He scored 13 points with a best finish of eleventh at Magny-Cours. Vizziello substituted for

Román Ramos Román Ramos Álvaro (born 6 January 1991) is a Spanish motorcycle racer. During 2018 he rode for Team Go Eleven on a Kawasaki, until losing the ride to Eugene Laverty Eugene Laverty (born 3 June 1986) is a professional motorcycle road race ...

at the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

rounds of

and Sepang after Ramos got injured in second free practice at Imola. Later that season Vizziello rejoined the Grillini Racing Team for the remainder of the season.

Supersport World Championship

Vizziello moved down to the Supersport World Championship for 2006, riding a

Yamaha YZF-R6 The Yamaha YZF-R6 is a sport bike, produced by Yamaha as a 600 class from 1999 to 2020. From 2021, production availability is limited to race-only specification in most global markets, causing race organisers to re-align their engine eligibilit ...

for Yamaha Team Italia. Vizziello had a solid rookie season and finished 9th in the championship with a best finish of fourth at Imola. Vizziello moved to the RG Team for 2007 and had an up and down season with a best finish of fourth at

Magny-Cours Magny-Cours () is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France. It is the home of the ''Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours'', a famous motor racing circuit (whose name is often abbreviated to 'Magny-Cours'). It formerly hosted the Formula ...

. He finished 10th in the championship that year. Vizziello moved to Berry Racing for the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

season riding a

Honda CBR600RR The Honda CBR600RR is a sport bike made by Honda since 2003, part of the CBR series. The CBR600RR was marketed as Honda's top-of-the-line middleweight sport bike, succeeding the 2002 Supersport World Champion 2001–2006 CBR600F4i, which was t ...

. Vizziello could not improve on his previous seasons but he did score his first fastest lap at

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

. Vizziello moved to the team of Johan Stigefelt for the 2009 season. He had a difficult season and Vizziello had to step out of the championship after the Nürburgring round due to the economic situation of the team combined with disappointing results. For the next two years Vizziello sporadically appeared in the championship starting in three races.

Career statistics

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

References

External links

Profile on WorldSBK.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vizziello, Gianluca 1980 births Living people Italian motorcycle racers Superbike World Championship riders Supersport World Championship riders FIM Superstock 1000 Cup riders