Max Biaggi

Max Biaggi

Nation:	Italy
Motorcycle world championship
Start number:	3
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 214 42 56 42
World title:	4th
World Cup points:	2892
Podiums:	111
According to class (es): 250 cc class First start: 1991 European Grand Prix Last start: 1997 Australian Grand Prix Constructors 1991-1992, 1994-1996  Aprilia  • 1993, 1997  Honda World Cup balance World Champion ( 1994 - 1997 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 87 29 33 28 World Cup points: 1268 Podiums: 53 500 cc class First start: 1998 Japanese Grand Prix Last start: 2001 Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Constructors 1998  Honda  • 1999–2001  Yamaha World Cup balance Vice World Champion ( 1998 , 2001 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 62 8th 15th 8th World Cup points: 791 Podiums: 28 MotoGP class First start: 2002 Japanese Grand Prix Last start: 2005 Valencia Grand Prix Constructors 2002  Yamaha  • 2003-2005  Honda World Cup balance Vice World Champion ( 2002 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 65 5 8th 6th World Cup points: 833 Podiums: 30th
Superbike World Championship First start: Losail (Run 1) 2007 Last start: Sepang (Run 2) 2015 statistics Constructors 2007  Suzuki  • 2008  Ducati  • 2009–2012, 2015  Aprilia World Cup balance World Champion ( 2010 , 2012 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 158 21st 5 18th World title: 2 World Cup points: 2102 Podiums: 71

Max Biaggi 2010

Max Biaggi 2010 on Aprilia RSV4

Massimiliano "Max" Biaggi (born June 26, 1971 in Rome ) is a former Italian motorcycle racer .

Life

Between 1994 and 1997 he won four world championship titles in a row in the 250 cm³ class of the motorcycle world championship .

From 2009 Biaggi started for Aprilia in the Superbike World Championship , on September 26, 2010, two races before the season finale, he became Superbike World Champion . He also won the 2012 Superbike World Championship.

Personal

Biaggi's main residence is in Monte Carlo . He lives with the Italian model Eleonora Pedron, and their first daughter was born on September 22, 2009.

Career

Early years

Biaggis Honda NSR 250 of the 1997 season .

In his childhood Max Biaggi was initially only interested in football, he really wanted to become a professional footballer and play for his favorite club, AS Roma . His interest in motorsport was sparked by his friend Daniele. He once took him to the Vallelunga race track on a Sunday , where Max did his first laps on a race track. From that day on, Max was a motorsport enthusiast. However, his father Pietro was not happy about this, as the sport was too dangerous for him, and initially refused to give him financial support. After later convincing himself of the seriousness of his son's intentions, he worked as his mechanic.

In 1989, at the age of 18, Biaggi competed in his first race in the Italian 125 cc Sports Production Championship on a Honda in Magione and crashed in the process. The following season he won the championship with six wins in seven races from Lucio Cecchinello .

In 1991 Biaggi immediately won the 250 cc European Championship on Aprilia .

250 cc world championship

Max Biaggi made his debut at the 1991 European Grand Prix on Aprilia in the 250 cc class of the motorcycle world championship , but did not finish. This year he contested three more World Championship races, in which the 12th place at the race in San Marino was his best result.

In the 1992 season he started as a regular driver for the Valesi team on Aprilia in the 250cc class. His teammate was compatriot Pierfrancesco Chili . At the fifth race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix , Biaggi achieved his first podium finish with third place after he collided with his team-mate Chili and brought him down. At the last race of the season in Kyalami , South Africa , he even celebrated his first victory. At the end of the season he finished fifth in the overall standings with 78 points.

For the 1993 season Biaggi joined the team Rothmans Honda of Erv Kanemoto . He achieved one victory at the European Grand Prix , two second and two third places and finished the season with 142 points in fourth place in the world championship.

In the 1994 season Max Biaggi went back to Aprilia and started for the Chesterfield team with a completely black painted machine. He won five races, achieved a total of 10 podium finishes and finally became world champion in the 250 cm³ class with 234 points.

In the following years Biaggi dominated the 250 World Cup. He won the title on Aprilia 1995 with eight wins in 13 races. In the 1996 season he prevailed with only six points ahead of the German Honda driver Ralf Waldmann .

For the 1997 season , Biaggi started again for Kanemoto-Honda on the NSR 250 after he had been sent away by Aprilia. He won the world title by just two points, again against Waldmann, who was his team-mate this year. The title decision was made at the last round of the season in Phillip Island , Australia , which Waldmann won, while Biaggi secured the title with second place.

The world championships won between 1994 and 1997 set a new record, never before had a pilot managed to win four world titles in a row in the 250 cc class.

Max Biaggi 2005

500 cc class and MotoGP

For the 1998 season Max Biaggi switched to the 500 cc class with the Kanemoto team. In his first race in this class, the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka , as a debutant he achieved pole position , the fastest race lap and the race win, an achievement that Jarno Saarinen last achieved before him in 1973 . In the Czech Brno Biaggi managed another victory later. After his disqualification at the Grand Prix of Catalonia in Barcelona , where he ignored a stop-and-go penalty , the Italian had no more title chances and eventually became runner-up behind defending champion Mick Doohan .

For the 1999 season, Biaggi switched to Yamaha and started for the Marlboro Yamaha factory team. With one win and seven podium places, he finished fourth in the final ranking.

In the following two years Biaggi fought against the mostly superior Hondas, in the 2000 season he was third in the World Championship and secured Yamaha the constructors' title , in 2001 he achieved the vice world title behind Valentino Rossi .

When the 500 cc class became the MotoGP class for the 2002 season , replacing the two-stroke engines that had been common up until then with 990 cc four-stroke engines , Biaggi piloted the new YZR-M1 in the Yamaha factory team , which, however, mainly at the start of the new season Honda RC211V was not on par. Nevertheless, Biaggi achieved two wins and eight podiums and was again runner-up behind Rossi.

For the 2003 season, Max Biaggi moved to Honda in the Camel Pramac Pons team from Sito Pons , where he was not given an official factory machine. With two wins and regular points, he finished third in the overall ranking this year.

In 2004 Biaggi drove in the Pons team. Thanks to a strong first half of the season, he again finished third in the World Championship.

Biaggi then signed a contract with the Honda Repsol factory team for 2005 . There he could not meet expectations in the 2005 season . At the beginning of the season, Biaggi was handicapped by an injury to his left ankle that he sustained during supermoto training. He only got four podiums and not a single win. At the end of the season he was only fifth in the World Championship. There were already disagreements with Honda during the season, as he repeatedly criticized the motorcycle in public. His contract was not renewed at the end of the season and a customer team refused to give him a motorcycle.

Although, thanks to his good relationship with the RJR Group , he would have brought sponsorship money for the cigarette brand Camel in the millions, Biaggi did not find a job with any other MotoGP team. He then tried to get a place in the Superbike World Championship for 2006 . The Alstare Corona Suzuki team was not averse, but already had two riders under contract with Troy Corser and Yukio Kagayama and no free capacity for a third factory motorcycle. Biaggi therefore decided to take a year off and only compete in the Superbike World Championship for Suzuki in 2007 .

Superbike World Championship

Max Biaggi on Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7 2007 in Assen

Suzuki works driver

In December 2006, Biaggi began testing the Suzuki GSX-R 1000 racing machine. Biaggi emphasized that the characteristics of superbikes cannot be compared with those of a Grand Prix machine and that he therefore had to completely change his driving style.

The 2007 season denied Max Biaggi finally the Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra team on a GSX-R 1000 K7 . The start of the season went perfectly for him, in the first race in Losail he immediately won race one and in the second race that day he finished second. At the end of the season, in which Biaggi was on the podium 17 times in 25 races, he had to admit defeat to James Toseland and Noriyuki Haga in the overall standings . Since the main sponsor of the team, the Mexican beer producer Corona, withdrew at the end of the season, Biaggi's salary requirements could no longer be met and the decision was therefore not to extend his contract.

Max Biaggi on Ducati 1098 RS 08 2008 at Brands Hatch

Ducati private driver

At the end of October 2007, Biaggi's move to the private team Sterilgarda Go Eleven was announced. There he drove one of the new Ducati 1098 RS 8s alongside Rubén Xaus in the 2008 season . At the first event of the season in Qatar , Biaggi had to admit defeat to Ducati factory rider Troy Bayliss in the first run, and came third in the second. In the second run of the second race of the season at Phillip Island, Australia, Max Biaggi sustained a broken left hand in a serious fall in Doohan Corner , which handicapped him for a long time. In the second half of the season, Biaggi achieved consistent results among the top ten, but no race victory. He secured seventh place in the final ranking with 238 points, making him the second best Ducati rider after Troy Bayliss, who won the world title with superiority.

Max Biaggi 2009 on Aprilia RSV4 Factory

Return to Aprilia

On September 18, 2008, after weeks of speculation, Max Biaggi signed a two-year contract with Aprilia , who returned to the Superbike World Championship in 2009 after a seven-year absence. Biaggi qualified for second place on the grid at the first event of the season in Phillip Island. In the races he finished eleventh and 15th. In the following races in Qatar, Biaggi was third. After that he was consistently among the top ten . At the end of June, Max Biaggi achieved his best position of the season to date with second place in the first run in Donington Park , in the second run he caused an accident in which he injured his right foot. Four weeks later, at the race on his favorite track in Brno in the Czech Republic , Biaggi won the first race despite an injury and thus secured the first Aprilia victory in the Superbike World Championship since Régis Laconi in 2001 . In the second run he was second. In the remaining eight races of the season, Biaggi took four more podium places and finished all races in the top six. With this strong second half of the season, he secured fourth place overall.

Biaggi also competed for Aprilia in the Superbike World Championship in 2010 . His new team-mate was the 2009 British Superbike champion , Leon Camier . With ten wins and a total of 14 podium places in 26 races, the Roman was able to secure the world championship title ahead of Briton Leon Haslam on the penultimate race weekend in Imola .

In 2012 Biaggi competed again for Aprilia in the Superbike World Championship and won his second Superbike World Championship title 0.5 points ahead of Tom Sykes . His new teammate was the Irishman Eugene Laverty . At the end of the season, Biaggi announced his retirement from active motorcycling.

In 2015 he made his comeback in Italy on the Misano World Circuit . He started with a wildcard for the Aprilia Racing Team. He had another assignment at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia . There he was able to get third place in the first run. This makes him the oldest rider to have made it onto the podium in the Superbike World Championship. The Italian had to cancel a third guest start planned for the 2015 season finale in Qatar due to an injury.

Rivalry with Valentino Rossi

Biaggi's greatest athletic rival was his compatriot Valentino Rossi for years . The climax of this rivalry was the 2001 season. At the Japanese Grand Prix , Biaggi Rossi pushed off the track in an overtaking maneuver at high speed. Rossi later cut him while overtaking and then showed him the raised middle finger . After the Grand Prix of Catalonia in the same year, there was a scuffle between the two before the award ceremony.

Formula 1 tests

In 1999 Max Biaggi tested a Ferrari F399 - Formula 1 racing car at the Pista di Fiorano and came pretty close to the times of the works drivers. In January 2006, he tested in Silverstone for three days a Midland - Toyota , some media representatives already saw him as a test driver in the team. However, the excursion remained a PR event.

statistics

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
1991	250 cc	Aprilia Team Italia	Aprilia	4th	-	-	-	-	-	7th	27.
1992	250 cc	Telkor Valesi Racing	Aprilia	12	1	2	2	4th	1	78	5.
1993	250 cc	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	14th	1	2	2	2	1	142	4th
1994	250 cc	Chesterfield Aprilia	Aprilia	14th	5	4th	1	7th	8th	234	World Champion
1995	250 cc	Chesterfield Aprilia	Aprilia	13	8th	3	1	9	7th	283	World Champion
1996	250 cc	Chesterfield Aprilia	Aprilia	15th	9	1	1	8th	9	274	World Champion
1997	250 cc	Marlboro Team Kanemoto	Honda NSR 250	15th	5	3	2	3	2	250	World Champion
1998	500 cc	Marlboro Team Kanemoto	Honda NSR 500	14th	2	3	3	2	2	208	2.
1999	500 cc	Marlboro Yamaha	Yamaha YZR 500	16	1	5	1	1	1	194	4th
2000	500 cc	Marlboro Yamaha	Yamaha YZR 500	16	2	-	2	5	3	170	3.
2001	500 cc	Marlboro Yamaha	Yamaha YZR 500	16	3	3	3	7th	2	219	2.
2002	MotoGP	Marlboro Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1	16	2	4th	2	4th	1	215	2.
2003	MotoGP	Camel Pramac Pons	Honda RC211V	16	2	4th	3	3	1	228	3.
2004	MotoGP	Camel Honda	Honda RC211V	16	1	5	3	1	3	217	3.
2005	MotoGP	Repsol Honda	Honda RC211V	17th	-	2	2	-	1	173	5.
total				214	42	41	28	56	42	2892	4 world titles

In the Superbike World Championship

season	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2007	Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7	25th	3	7th	7th	-	5	397	3.
2008	Sterilgarda Go Eleven	Ducati 1098 RS 08	28	-	3	4th	-	1	238	7th
2009	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	28	1	4th	4th	-	1	319	4th
2010	Aprilia Alitalia Racing	Aprilia RSV4 1000 Factory	26th	10	2	2	2	2	451	World Champion
2011	Aprilia Alitalia Racing	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	20th	2	9	1	2	5	303	3.
2012	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	27	5	2	3	1	5	358	World Champion
2015	Aprilia Racing Team	Aprilia RSV4 Factory	4th	-	-	1	-	-	36	20th
total			158	21st	27	23	5	18th	2102	2 world titles

References

Web links

Commons : Max Biaggi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Biaggis Official Website (English, Italian)
• Max Biaggi on the official website of the motorcycle world championship (English).
• Max Biaggi on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Roman Witt Meier: Biaggi at Imola: daughter leaves regards. www.motorsport-total.com, September 26, 2009, accessed on January 11, 2010 . 
2. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Ducati: Bayliss outstanding - Biaggi in the hospital. www.motorsport-total.com, March 2, 2008, accessed January 8, 2009 . 
3. ↑ Johannes Orasche: The poker is over. September 20, 2008, archived from the original on September 22, 2008 ; Retrieved September 20, 2008 . 
4. ↑ Johannes Orasche: The diva returns to Aprilia. www.motorsport-total.com, September 22, 2008, accessed on September 22, 2008 . 
5. ↑ Roman Witt Meier: Phillip Iceland: Spies takes Superpole. www.motorsport-total.com, February 28, 2009, accessed on May 11, 2009 . 
6. ↑ Roman Witt Meier: Phillip Iceland: Victories for Haga and Spies. www.motorsport-total.com, March 1, 2009, accessed on May 11, 2009 . 
7. ↑ Christian Nimmervoll: Hot duels between Haga and Biaggi. www.motorsport-total.com, March 14, 2009, accessed on May 11, 2009 . 
8. ^ Christian Nimmervoll: Biaggi in Donington: Cup and injury. www.motorsport-total.com, June 29, 2009, accessed January 10, 2010 . 
9. ↑ Pete Fink: Brno: Biaggi only at 80 percent. www.motorsport-total.com, July 21, 2009, accessed January 10, 2010 . 
10. ↑ Roman Witt Meier: Brno: Biaggi celebrates first victory with the Aprilia. www.motorsport-total.com, July 26, 2009, accessed January 10, 2010 . 
11. ↑ Roman Witt Meier: Brno: Spies hit back in the second race. www.motorsport-total.com, July 26, 2009, accessed January 10, 2010 . 
12. ↑ Britta Weddige: Camier officially confirmed as Aprilia pilot. www.motorsport-total.com, November 27, 2009, accessed January 10, 2010 . 
13. ↑ Max Biaggi resigns at the age of 41. Salzburger Nachrichten, November 7, 2012, accessed on December 17, 2012 . 
14. ↑ Sensation: Max Biaggi on the podium at the age of 44! Speedweek, August 2, 2015, accessed August 2, 2015 . 
15. ↑ After a fall: Max Biaggi has to cancel the Qatar start! Speedweek, October 14, 2015, accessed October 15, 2015 . 
16. ↑ Klaus Wolf: Biaggi draws new courage in a hot duel. www.berlinonline.de, July 23, 2001, accessed on January 11, 2010 . 
17. ^ Gerhard Pfeil: Gambler with baby face . In: Der Spiegel . No. 43 , 2001 ( online ).
18. ↑ Rossi versus Biaggi: Embittered Rivals. www.motogp.com, January 7, 2010, accessed January 11, 2010 . 
19. ↑ Max Biaggi: Secret test for MF1 Racing! motorsport-total.com, January 17, 2006, accessed January 8, 2009 .