Marco Lucchinelli (born 26 June 1954) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

road racer. He was 1981 FIM Road Racing World Champion with Suzuki. He is a MotoGP Legend.

Career

Lucchinelli was born in Bolano. He began his road racing career in 1975 on a

Laverda Laverda (''Moto Laverda S.A.S. – Dottore Francesco Laverda e fratelli'') was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative. The Laverda brand was abs ...

in endurance racing. His riding impressed the

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization esta ...

factory enough to earn him a sponsored bike in the Italian National Championship as well as a ride in the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Nations Grand Prix in the 350 class. In 1976 he rode a

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Minami-ku, Hamamatsu, Japan. Suzuki manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a variety of other small internal c ...

in the 500cc World Championship earning fourth place in the championship with two second-place finishes along with a third and a fourth place. He earned the nickname ''Crazy Horse'' for his wild riding style that attracted many fans. This fearless riding style also meant that he crashed quite often. In the

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Re ...

season, he would drop to 11th place in the 500 World Championship on a Yamaha. Lucchinelli returned to Suzuki for the 1978 season and in 1980, he won his first 500cc Grand Prix at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in Rh ...

at the

Nürburgring The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around the village ...

. He would finish the season in third place behind

Kenny Roberts Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951, in Modesto, California) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship. ...

and

Randy Mamola Randy Mamola (born November 10, 1959) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and . A 13-time Premier Class race winner, Mamola was one of the mos ...

Lucchinelli had his best year in 1981. He began the year with a victory over Kenny Roberts in the prestigious Imola 200 non-championship race in Italy. He then took 5 Grand Prix victories aboard the

Roberto Gallina Roberto Gallina (born 4 January 1940 in La Spezia) is a former Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and racing team owner. His best year was in 1973 when he finished eighth in the 250cc world championship. After his racing career ended, he s ...

backed Suzuki, battling

to the final race of the season before winning the 500cc World Championship. For 1982, Lucchinelli accepted a job offer from

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

to race their new three-cylinder

NS500 The Honda NS500 is a 500cc Grand Prix racing motorcycle of the early 1980s, powered by a two-stroke V3 engine. Created as a replacement for the innovative but unsuccessful four-stroke NR500, the bike went against Honda's preference for four-strok ...

alongside

Freddie Spencer Frederick Burdette Spencer (born December 20, 1961), sometimes known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former world champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s. Motorcycle ...

and

Takazumi Katayama Takazumi Katayama (片山敬済, born April 16, 1951) is a Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion. Motorcycle racing career Born in Kobe, Japan, he was the first Japanese rider to win a motorcycle road racing world ch ...

. He would have a lackluster season in which

Franco Uncini Franco Uncini (born 9 March 1955) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racing. He was 1982 FIM Road Racing World Champion with Suzuki. He was inducted into the F.I.M. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2016. __TOC__ Career Uncini ...

would win the championship for the Roberto Gallina-Suzuki team for which Lucchinelli had won the title the previous year. After another lackluster season with Honda in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, he joined the Cagiva team for the 1984 and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

seasons before he retired from Grand Prix racing. He tried his hand at

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

, competing in the Italian round of the 1986 Formula 3000 season in a

Lola Lola may refer to: Places * Lolá, a or subdistrict of Panama * Lola Township, Cherokee County, Kansas, United States * Lola Prefecture, Guinea * Lola, Guinea, a town in Lola Prefecture * Lola Island, in the Solomon Islands People * Lol ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

. Lucchinelli raced a Ducati 851 to a popular win at the 1987 Daytona Battle of the Twins race. In he joined the

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is A ...

in 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 in ...

where he won two races during the year before taking on the role of Ducati's team manager. On 6 December 1991 he was arrested for drug possession. He spent some time in jail, during which he successfully fought against drug addiction. After retiring, Lucchinelli became a television commentator for the

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...

network's motorcycle race coverage. He retired with 6 Grand Prix victories. However, he briefly returned from retirement in 1998, entering the

1000 km Monza The 6 Hours of Monza (formerly the 1000 Kilometres of Monza and known after 1966 as "Trofeo Filippo Caracciolo") is an endurance race, mainly for sports cars, which is held at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in Italy. Overview Despi ...

, and the opening race of the

International Sports Racing Series The FIA Sportscar Championship was a sports car racing series created by John Mangoletsi and was eventually taken control of by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a series similar to the FIA GT Championship, concentrating ...

(ISRS), driving for Centenari; he didn't start the 1000 km Monza, and finished sixth overall (second in the CN class) in the opening round of the ISRS.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links

Lucchinelli article on the Ducati web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucchinelli, Marco Sportspeople from the Province of La Spezia 1954 births Living people Italian motorcycle racers 350cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders Superbike World Championship riders International Formula 3000 drivers