Pierfrancesco chili

Pierfrancesco Chili 2009

Pierfrancesco "Frankie" Chili (born June 20, 1964 in Bologna , Emilia-Romagna , Italy ) is a former Italian motorcycle racer .

Chili, also known as Chilone , competed in the Superbike World Championship for twelve years and achieved 17 race wins.

Career

Beginnings

Pierfrancesco Chili began his racing career in 1982, his greatest sponsor was his uncle Pierluigi Aldrovandi , who competed in the motorcycle world championship in the early 1980s and was 125 cc European champion in 1985 . In 1983 he was Italian champion in the 125 cc junior championship. The following year he had to do his military service and could therefore only contest a few races. In 1985, Chili became the 125cc European Champion on an MBA . He won four of the six held, finished all races on the podium, and thus recommended himself for a place in the motorcycle world championship.

Chili on a Honda at the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix

500 cm³ world championship

Pierfrancesco Chili made his debut in the 1986 season at the Spanish Grand Prix on a Suzuki in Team Gallina in the 500 cc class of the motorcycle world championship. From 1987 to 1990 he then competed in the premier class on a Honda . Chili had his best season in this class in 1989 when he finished sixth overall with 122 points. That year he was able to win his only 500cc race with the Grand Prix of Nations in Misano . In this race, however, most of the top drivers did not start because of rainy weather and poor track conditions. In 1988 and 1989 he won the Italian 500 cc championship on Suzuki and Honda, respectively .

250 cc world championship

From 1991 to 1993 Pierfrancesco Chili started first on Aprilia and later on Yamaha in the 250 cc class of the world championship. His best World Cup placement was achieved in the 1992 season when he finished third with three wins, a total of six podium finishes and 199 points. In 1994, after his previous team had withdrawn, Chili found no place in the World Cup.

Superbike World Championship

For the 1995 season, Pierfrancesco Chili moved to the Superbike World Championship , where he competed in a private team on Ducati . In his first season, he immediately won his first victory at the second run in Monza . With three more podiums, he finished eighth overall. In the next two, Chili finished sixth and seventh in the overall classification. For the 1998 season Pierfrancesco Chili switched to the Ducati works team Ducati Racing ADVF , his team mate was the 1996 world champion , the Australian Troy Corser . Chili won five races, fought for the title until the penultimate race and achieved fourth place in the overall standings, the best world championship position of his career. In Assen in the Netherlands , however, he took on the eventual world champion and Ducati brand colleague Carl Fogarty and crashed on the last lap. At the end of the season he was finally fired from Ducati. Pierfrancesco Chili competed in the Alstare team on Suzuki for the next three years and gave the Japanese manufacturer its first two victories in the Superbike World Championship. 1999 he was charged with two race wins sixth, in 2000 he reached, although he had suffered a shoulder injury during the season in a fall, ten podium finishes and repeated the fourth overall in 1998. In the seasons 2001 and 2002 reach chili only three podium finishes and ranks seven and eight in the world championship. In the 2003 season , Chili, who started on Ducati, only finished seventh in the World Championship. With one win and five third places, he caused a sensation because of his age of 39 years. In 2004 , Chili even achieved fifth place in the World Championship with one win, four second and four third places in the PSG-1 Corse team. For the 2005 season, Chili switched to the Klaffi Honda team of Austrian Klaus Klaffenböck , where he became a teammate of German Max Neukirchner . That year he was tenth in the World Championship without reaching a single podium. In 2006 , Chili started again on a Honda for the DFX Treme team , but broke his pelvis during the winter test in Misano and had to take a long break. At the end of the season he finally ended his active career at the age of 42.

In twelve years in the Superbike World Championship, Chili won 17 races and achieved a total of 61 podium finishes. With 276 races completed, he held the absolute record of racing starts for a long time.

After the active time

After the end of his career, Chili initially worked a. a. as a consultant for the DFX team in the Superbike World Championship. In the 2009 season , Pierfrancesco Chili was team manager in the Guandalini Racing team from Bologna , which competed in the Superbike World Championship with drivers Jakub Smrž from the Czech Republic and Australian Brendan Roberts on a Ducati.

successes

• 125 cm³ European Champion : 1985 (on MBA )
• Italian 500cc champion : 1988, 1989 (on Honda )
• Italian Open Class Champion : 1990 (on Cagiva )
• Italian 250cc champion : 1991 (on Aprilia )

Private

Pierfrancesco Chili now lives with his wife Romina and their two children in Misano Adriatico , not far from the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli .

References

Web links

Commons : Pierfrancesco Chili  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pierfrancesco Chili on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
• Pierfrancesco Chili on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship
• Photos of chilli at highsider.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SBK: Chili direttore sportivo del team Guandalini. worldsbk.com, December 1, 2008, accessed December 7, 2013 .