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| Marco Lucchinelli | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_spuitend_me_champagne%2c_naast_hem_Bo%25E2%2580%25A6%2c_Bestanddeelnr_931-5669.jpg) Marco Lucchinelli in Assen became the 1981 500cc world champion | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1954-06-26)June 26, 1954 (age 71) Bolano,Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Marco Lucchinelli (born 26 June 1954) is an Italian former professionalmotorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed inGrand Prix motorcycle racing between1975 and1986. He was1981 FIM Road Racing World Champion as a member of theGallina-Suzuki racing team.[1] In 2017, Lucchinelli was inducted into theMotoGP Legends Hall of Fame byFIM.[2]
Lucchinelli was born inBolano.
He began his road racing career in 1975 on aLaverda inendurance racing. His riding impressed theYamaha factory enough to earn him a sponsored bike in the Italian National Championship as well as a ride in the1975 Nations Grand Prix in the 350 class.
In1976, Lucchinelli rode aSuzuki 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 nicknameCrazy Horse for his wild riding style that attracted many fans. This fearless riding style also meant that he crashed quite often. In the1977 season, he would drop to 11th place in the 500 World Championship on a Yamaha.
Lucchinelli returned to Suzuki for the1978 season and in1980, he won his first 500cc Grand Prix at theGerman Grand Prix at theNürburgring. He would finish the season in third place behindKenny Roberts andRandy Mamola.
Lucchinelli had his best year in1981. He began the year with a victory over Kenny Roberts in the prestigiousImola 200 non-championship race in Italy.[3] He then took 5 Grand Prix victories aboard theRoberto Gallina backed Suzuki, battlingRandy Mamola to the final race of the season before winning the500cc World Championship. In1982, Lucchinelli accepted a job offer fromHonda to race their new three-cylinderNS500 alongsideFreddie Spencer andTakazumi Katayama. He would have a lackluster season in whichFranco 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 in1983, Lucchinelli joined theCagiva team for the1984 and1985 seasons before he retired from Grand Prix racing. He tried his hand atauto racing, competing in the Italian round of the1986 Formula 3000 season in aLola-Ford. Lucchinelli raced a Ducati 851 to a popular win at the 1987Daytona Battle of the Twins race. In1988 he joined theDucati in theSuperbike World Championship where he won two races during the year before taking on the role of Ducati's team manager.[4]
On 6 December 1991, Lucchinelli was arrested for drug possession. He spent some time in jail, during which he successfully fought against drug addiction.[5] After retiring, Lucchinelli became a television commentator for theEurosport network's motorcycle race coverage. He retired with 6 Grand Prix victories. However, he briefly returned from retirement in 1998, entering the1000 km Monza, and the opening race of theInternational Sports Racing Series (ISRS), driving forCentenari; he didn't start the 1000 km Monza,[6] and finished sixth overall (second in the CN class) in the opening round of the ISRS.[7]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Class | Bike | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1975 | 350cc | Yamaha | FRA | SPA | AUT | GER | NAT 7 | IOM | NED | FIN | CZE | YUG | 32nd | 4 | ||
| 1976 | 350cc | Yamaha | FRA Ret | AUT | NAT | YUG | IOM | NED | FIN | CZE | GER | SPA | NC | 0 | ||
| 500cc | Suzuki | FRA 3 | AUT 2 | NAT DNS | IOM | NED | BEL | SWE 15 | FIN 5 | CZE Ret | GER 2 | 4th | 40 | |||
| 1977 | 500cc | Suzuki | VEN 7 | AUT DNS | GER 7 | NAT Ret | FRA Ret | NED 6 | BEL Ret | SWE Ret | FIN 2 | CZE Ret | GBR | 11th | 25 | |
| 1978 | 350cc | Yamaha | VEN | AUT | FRA | NAT 6 | NED | SWE | 18th | 5 | ||||||
| Harley-Davidson | FIN Ret | GBR | GER | CZE | YUG | |||||||||||
| 500cc | Suzuki | VEN | SPA Ret | AUT 4 | FRA Ret | NAT 3 | NED Ret | BEL 7 | SWE Ret | FIN Ret | GBR 4 | GER Ret | 9th | 30 | ||
| 1979 | 500cc | Suzuki | VEN | AUT 9 | GER Ret | NAT Ret | SPA 10 | YUG Ret | NED Ret | BEL DNS | SWE 7 | FIN 9 | GBR 9 | FRA Ret | 18th | 11 |
| 1980 | 500cc | Suzuki | NAT Ret | SPA 2 | FRA 3 | NED Ret | BEL 2 | FIN Ret | GBR 3 | GER 1 | 3rd | 59 | ||||
| 1981 | 500cc | Suzuki | AUT Ret | GER 3 | NAT 5 | FRA 1 | YUG 2 | NED 1 | BEL 1 | RSM 1 | GBR 19 | FIN 1 | SWE 9 | 1st | 105 | |
| 1982 | 500cc | Honda | ARG 5 | AUT Ret | FRA DNS | SPA 5 | NAT 5 | NED Ret | BEL 6 | YUG 8 | GBR 17 | SWE 5 | RSM 6 | GER 5 | 8th | 43 |
| 1983 | 500cc | Honda | RSA 9 | FRA 2 | NAT 10 | GER 3 | SPA Ret | AUT 7 | YUG 9 | NED Ret | BEL 7 | GBR Ret | SWE 6 | RSM 4 | 7th | 48 |
| 1984 | 500cc | Cagiva | RSA Ret | NAT Ret | SPA Ret | AUT Ret | GER | FRA DNS | YUG | NED Ret | BEL | GBR | SWE | RSM | NC | 0 |
| 1985 | 500cc | Cagiva | RSA | SPA | GER | NAT | AUT | YUG 15 | NED Ret | BEL Ret | FRA | GBR | SWE | RSM Ret | NC | 0 |
| 1986 | 500cc | Cagiva | SPA | NAT Ret | GER | AUT | YUG | NED | BEL | FRA | GBR | SWE | RSM | NC | 0 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | R1 | R2 | ||||
| 1988 | Ducati | GBR 2 | GBR 1 | HUN 9 | HUN Ret | GER 6 | GER 11 | AUT 1 | AUT Ret | JPN 12 | JPN Ret | FRA 10 | FRA C | POR 3 | POR 4 | AUS | AUS | NZL | NZL | 5th | 63 | ||||
| 1989 | Ducati | GBR | GBR | HUN | HUN | CAN | CAN | USA | USA | AUT | AUT | FRA | FRA | JPN DNS | JPN DNS | GER Ret | GER 10 | ITA 9 | ITA DNS | AUS | AUS | NZL | NZL | 42nd | 13 |
|
