Marco Lucchinelli

Marco Lucchinelli
Lucchinelli leads Kenny Roberts at the 1978 Nations Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 1975 - 1986 First race 1975 350cc Nations Grand Prix Last race 1986 500cc Nations Grand Prix First win 1980 500cc German Grand Prix Last win 1981 500cc Finnish Grand Prix Team(s) Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Cagiva Championships 500cc - 1981 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 75 6 19 9 9

Marco Lucchinelli (born 26 June 1954) is an Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In 1981 he won the FIM 500cc World Championship.^[1]

Biography

Lucchinelli was born in Bolano.

He began his road racing career in 1975 on a Laverda in endurance racing. His riding impressed the Yamaha factory enough to earn him a sponsored bike in the Italian National Championship as well as a ride in the 1975 Nations Grand Prix in the 350 class.

In 1976 he rode a Suzuki 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 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 at the Nürburgring. He would finish the season in third place behind Kenny Roberts and Randy Mamola.

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.^[2] He then took 5 Grand Prix victories aboard the Roberto Gallina backed Suzuki, battling Randy Mamola to the final race of the season before winning the 500cc World Championship. For 1982, Lucchinelli accepted a job offer from Honda to race their new three-cylinder NS500 alongside Freddie Spencer and Takazumi Katayama. He would have a lackluster season in which Franco 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, he joined the Cagiva team for the 1984 and 1985 seasons before he retired from Grand Prix racing. He tried his hand at auto racing, competing in the Italian round of the 1986 Formula 3000 season in a Lola-Ford. Lucchinelli raced a Ducati 851 to a popular win at the 1987 Daytona Battle of the Twins race. In 1988 he joined the Ducati in the Superbike World Championship where he won two races during the year before taking on the role of Ducati's team manager.^[3]

On 6 December 1991 he was arrested for drug possession. He spent some time in jail, during which he successfully fought against drug addiction.^[4] After retiring, Lucchinelli became a television commentator for the Eurosport 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, and the opening race of the International Sports Racing Series (ISRS), driving for Centenari; he didn't start the 1000 km Monza,^[5] and finished sixth overall (second in the CN class) in the opening round of the ISRS.^[6]

Grand Prix career statistics

Points system from 1968 to 1987

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

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

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	Points	Rank	Wins
1975	350cc	Yamaha	FRA -	ESP -	AUT -	GER -	NAT 7	IOM -	NED -	FIN -	CZE -	YUG -				4	32nd	0
1976	500cc	Suzuki	FRA 3	AUT 2	NAT -	IOM -	NED -	BEL -	SWE 15	FIN 5	CZE -	GER 2				40	4th	0
1977	500cc	Yamaha	VEN 7	AUT -	GER 7	NAT -	FRA -	NED 6	BEL -	SWE -	FIN 2	CZE -	GBR -			25	11th	0
1978	350cc	Yamaha	VEN -		AUT -	FRA -	NAT 6	NED -		SWE -	FIN -	GBR -	GER -	CZE -	YUG -	5	18th	0
	500cc	Suzuki	VEN -	ESP -	AUT 4	FRA -	NAT 3	NED -	BEL 7	SWE -	FIN -	GBR 4	GER NC			30	9th	0
1979	500cc	Suzuki	VEN -	AUT 9	GER NC	NAT NC	ESP 10	YUG NC	NED NC	BEL DNS	SWE 7	FIN 9	GBR 9	FRA NC		11	18th	0
1980	500cc	Suzuki	NAT NC	ESP 2	FRA 3	NED NC	BEL 2	FIN NC	GBR 3	GER 1						59	3rd	1
1981	500cc	Suzuki	AUT NC	GER 3	NAT 5	FRA 1	YUG 2	NED 1	BEL 1	RSM 1	GBR 19	FIN 1	SWE 9			105	1st	5
1982	500cc	Honda	ARG 5	AUT NC	FRA -	ESP 5	NAT 5	NED -	BEL 6	YUG 8	GBR -	SWE 5	RSM 6	GER 5		43	8th	0
1983	500cc	Honda	RSA 9	FRA 2	NAT 10	GER 3	ESP NC	AUT 7	YUG 9	NED NC	BEL 7	GBR NC	SWE 6	RSM 4		48	7th	0
1984	500cc	Cagiva	RSA NC	NAT NC	ESP NC	AUT NC	GER -	FRA -	YUG -	NED NC	BEL -	GBR -	SWE -	RSM -		0	-	0
1985	500cc	Cagiva	RSA -	ESP -	GER -	NAT -	AUT -	YUG NC	NED NC	BEL NC	FRA -	GBR -	SWE -	RSM NC		0	-	0
1986	500cc	Cagiva	ESP -	NAT NC	GER -	AUT -	YUG -	NED -	BEL -	FRA -	GBR -	SWE -	RSM -			0	-	0

References

1. Marco Lucchinelli career statistics at MotoGP.com
2. "Luchinelli wheels to win". Anchorage Daily News. 6 April 1981. p. 4. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
3. Marco Lucchinelli career World Superbike statistics at worldsbk.com
4. Lucchinelli, 5 anni per la " coca " : la cella mi ha aiutato
5. "Monza 1000 Kilometres 1998 - Race results". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
6. "International Sports Racing Series Paul Ricard 1998 - Race results". Racing Sports Cars. Retrieved 21 July 2013.

External links

• Lucchinelli article on the Ducati web page