Lorenzo Lanzi

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Lorenzo Lanzi 2004
Lorenzo Lanzi at Brands Hatch, 2007

Lorenzo Lanzi (born October 26, 1981 in Cesena ) is an Italian motorcycle racer .

In memory of his father, Lanzi drives with the start number 57, since that was the year of his birth. Lanzi was considered a great talent in the Superbike scene, but did not make the final breakthrough in the Ducati factory team in 2006 and 2007.

Career

Lorenzo Lanzi's enthusiasm for motorsport was inherited from his father Piercarlo "Regina" Lanzi, who was a kart driver. At the age of eight he won the Italian Minicross Championship. In 1996 he entered the Italian 125 cc Sports Production Championship, which he won in 1998 - at the age of 16 - on Aprilia .

In the 1999 season Lanzi made his debut as a wildcard driver in the class up to 125 cm³ at the Italian Grand Prix in Mugello in the motorcycle world championship . He finished the 125 cc class of the European Motorcycle Championship in twelfth place.

In the 2000 season, Lorenzo Lanzi finished seventh overall in the 250 European Championship and ninth in the Italian 250 cc championship.

In 2001 Lorenzo Lanzi competed in the world championship in the 250 cm³ class on an Aprilia belonging to the Campetella team. His best placings were two eleventh places in Mugello and Phillip Island , he finished the season with 23 points in 20th place overall.

After a year break, he was finally signed by Ducati in 2003 . Lanzi finished second in the Superstock 1000 class of the European Motorcycle Championship with three wins and 137 points , just three points behind his compatriot Michel Fabrizio . In the Italian Superstock 1000 championship , he won the title straight away.

In the 2004 season he contested the Supersport World Championship with a Ducati 749 R for the Ducati Breil factory team . His best results were four fourth places. Lanzi finished the season in fifth place overall. At the last round of the AMA Superbike Championship , the US Superbike Championship, at the Virginia International Raceway , Lanzi started with a wildcard for the Ducati factory team Parts Unlimited Ducati Austin and finished fourth in the first round.

For the 2005 season he then switched to the Superbike World Championship and drove a Ducati 999 customer machine for the private Caracchi team. When the Ducati works rider Régis Laconi had to take a break due to an injury, Lanzi jumped in for the official Xerox Ducati works team and was able to clinch a race win at the Lausitzring straight away . Then he was equipped with a factory machine by Ducati and won again starting the last race of the season in the French Magny-Cours for Caracchi . At the end of the season he finished ninth in the final table with 150 points.

For the 2006 season he was hired by the Ducati works team as a regular driver. However, he could not quite meet the expectations placed in him. Lorenzo Lanzi finished eighth with 169 points in the world championship, which was won by his teammate Troy Bayliss . Some believed that the cause of his stagnating performance was the death of his father, who suddenly died on a motorcycle excursion together in October 2005.

Lorenzo Lanzi also competed in the Ducati works team in the Superbike World Championship in 2007 . At the first run in Losail he was able to celebrate the first, but also only podium of the year with third place. After constant lines in the front midfield, he was seventh in the World Cup. However, Lanzi's performance again fell short of expectations, which is why the contract in the works team that expired at the end of the season was not extended.

In the Superbike World Championship 2008 Lorenzo Lanzi drove one of the newly developed 1200 cc Ducati 1098 RS 08 in the Italian private team RG Ducati , which started in the Supersport World Championship last season . After the Italians noticed already positive during tests on his favorite track in Qatar, he succeeded in the first round in the Spanish Valencia an unexpected victory. Local hero Carlos Checa had started a daring overtaking maneuver against the leader Max Neukirchner in the last corner, whereupon both of them fell. Lanzi overtook Troy Bayliss on the last lap and "inherited" the race victory. In the further course of the season, however, the man from Cesena could not build on these successes, he occupied ranks in midfield and was 14th overall.

After the RG team withdrew from the World Championship at the end of 2008, Lorenzo Lanzi couldn't find a place in the Superbike World Championship for the 2009 season . Efforts to find a place in another championship were also unsuccessful. In May 2009, Lorenzo Lanzi was signed by the Italian team DFX Corse as a substitute driver for the injured Régis Laconi, who had a serious fall in Kyalami . Lanzi starts on a Ducati 1098R and finished his first two races at Miller Motorsports Park (USA) in 17th and 14th place. In the overall standings, he finished 26th with 15 points from ten races.

In the 2010 season Lorenzo Lanzi competed for the DFX team on a Ducati 1098 in the Superbike World Championship.

successes

References

Web links

Commons : Lorenzo Lanzi  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Lorenzo Lanzi on the official website of the motorcycle world championship (English).
  • Lorenzo Lanzi on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christian Nimmervoll: SBK tests in Qatar: Lanzi continues to be dominant. www.motorsport-total.com, February 12, 2008, accessed March 6, 2009 .
  2. ^ Johannes Orasche: Tragedy about Neukirchner. www.motorsport-total.com, April 6, 2008, accessed March 6, 2009 .
  3. ^ Toni Börner: Replacement driver carousel. www.motorsport-magazin.com, May 24, 2009, accessed June 9, 2009 .
  4. ^ Gordon Ritchie: Lanzi at DFX-Ducati. www.speedweek.de, February 10, 2010, accessed on February 10, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Lanzi, Lorenzo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH Cesena