Roberto Rolfo

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Roberto Rolfo 2005

Roberto "Roby" Rolfo (born March 23, 1980 in Turin , Piedmont ) is an Italian motorcycle racer .

Roberto Rolfo's preferred starting number is 44, he is considered an intelligent, passionate and instinctive pilot with a very smooth driving style. Because of his uncomplicated nature, Rolfo has a lot of fans and is a crowd favorite in Italy.

Career

Early years

Roberto Rolfo began his enthusiasm for motorsport from his father, Angelo Rolfo, who was Italian motorcycle champion in 1980. From a young age he showed great talent and started in the Italian championship. In 1996 he took part in the European Championship with Team Italia , a racing team that traditionally promoted Italian talent, and finished in fourth place. In the Italian championship he was also fourth this year. In the same year he made his debut at the Italian Grand Prix in the 250 cm³ class of the motorcycle world championship .

250 cc class

From the 1998 season , Rolfo started as a regular driver in the 250 World Championship. In his first season on a TSR - Honda he achieved twelfth place in the World Championship with 62 points. The 1999 season he contested in the Vasco Rossi Racing team , which belonged to the Italian singer Vasco Rossi , on Aprilia . At the end of the season he finished 14th overall. In 2000 there was an argument with his team and Rolfo was blamed for the unexpectedly poor results. So he left the team during the season and started the final races of the season with a Honda in another team. In the 2001 season , Roberto Rolfo started for the Safilo Oxydo Race Team on Aprilia. At the Italian Grand Prix he achieved his first podium with second place. Overall, he achieved four podium finishes this year, failed to score in only two races and finished fourth with 177 points. For the 2002 season he switched to Fausto Gresini's Fortuna Honda team . With a total of seven podiums, but no victory, Rolfo achieved third place in the world championship with 219 points.

In the 2003 season he was even able to surpass the good results of the previous year. At the Grand Prix of Germany at the Sachsenring he achieved his career first victory in the race in Australia in Phillip Iceland , he was even able to repeat this success. In the overall standings, Roberto Rolfo only had to give way to Manuel Poggiali from San Marino , with whom he fought for the world title until the last race of the season. With 236 points, Rolfo became vice world champion, which is still the greatest success of his career today. The 2004 season , he remained the Fortuna Honda loyal team and made up his mind to win the world championship this year. At the second race of the season in Spain , Rolfo celebrated his third victory. After that, however, his performance continued to decline, with 116 points he was only eighth in the World Cup. However, the Italian had problems with the motorcycle throughout the year because it was actually too small for his body size.

Rolfo 2005 on Ducati

MotoGP class

For the 2005 season Roberto Rolfo switched to the MotoGP class for Luis d'Antin's D'Antin MotoGP team , where he rode a Ducati bike from last year . Often times, due to the inferior Dunlop tires the team used, they didn't even make it into the points. Nonetheless, Rolfo was convincing because, without having experience on large four-stroke machines , he could only not finish two races with the difficult to control Ducati. His best result, tenth place, came in the rain race at Donington Park . In total, he scored 25 points this season and was 18th overall.

Superbike World Championship

For the 2006 season , Roberto Rolfo could not find a place in the MotoGP class and therefore switched to the Superbike World Championship for Team Caracchi , where he drove a Ducati customer machine. After a strong start to the season with a fifth and two seventh places in the first four races, his performance declined. At the end of the season he was only 16th overall with 69 points . The 2007 season denied Rolfo in the Dutch Ten Kate team and drove a factory supported Honda CBR 1000RR . With regular placements in the top ten and two fourth places as the best results, he reached seventh place in the World Championship and thus remained far behind the performance of his teammate James Toseland , who became world champion.

In 2008 Roberto Rolfo started in the Hannspree Honda Althea team again on a Honda. He did not get beyond midfield positions throughout the season. Rolfo had to skip the races in Monza because of a broken wrist while mountain biking . His best result of the season was eighth in the first run in Vallelunga . With 59 points, the Turinese finished 17th in the overall ranking.

In autumn 2008 Roberto Rolfo signed a contract for 2009 with the team of the Swedish ex-Grand Prix driver Johan Stigefelt , who rose from the Supersport World Championship to the Superbike World Championship. The Italian had previously been associated with an engagement with Aprilia, who returned to the sport. During the entire preparation for the season, the Italian suffered from a shoulder injury which, against the advice of the attending physicians, he did not undergo surgery, as this would have meant a month-long break from racing. Rolfo started the season with ranks 13 and 16 in the races in Australia , he dropped out twice at the following race weekend in Losail ( Qatar ) and thus lagged well behind the performance of his British teammate Leon Haslam . On March 20, 2009, the Stiggy team signed the American John Hopkins , who had no contract after Kawasaki's withdrawal from the MotoGP class. Roberto Rolfo's contract was then terminated and Hopkins took his place on the team.

statistics

In the motorcycle world championship

season class team motorcycle run Victories Second Third Poles Nice Race laps Points position
1996 250 cc Aprilia 2 - - - - - - -
1998 250 cc Scuderia Carrizosa Honda /
TSR -Honda		 14th - - - - - 61 12.
1999 250 cc Vasco Rossi Racing Aprilia 13 - - - - - 62 14th
2000 250 cc Tino Villa Racing /
Racing Factory		 TSR- Honda /
Aprilia 		10 - - - - - 26th 16.
2001 250 cc Safilo Oxydo Racing Aprilia 16 - 2 2 - - 177 4th
2002 250 cc Fortuna Honda Gresini Honda NSR 16 - 5 2 - 2 219 3.
2003 250 cc Fortuna Honda Honda RS-W 16 2 3 1 - - 235 2.
2004 250 cc Fortuna Honda Honda RS-W 15th 1 - - - 1 116 8th.
2005 MotoGP Team D'Antin Pramac Ducati 17th - - - - - 25th 18th
2010 Moto2 Italtrans STR Suter 17th 1 - 1 - - 75 14th
2012 Moto2 Technomag-CIP Suter 11 - - - - - 1 31.
total 147 4th 10 6th - 3 997

In the Superbike World Championship

season team motorcycle run Victories Second Third Poles Nice Race laps Points position
2006 Ducati SC - Caracchi Ducati 999 F05 24 - - - - - 69 16.
2007 Hanspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR 1000RR 25th - - - - - 192 8th.
2008 Hannspree Honda Althea Honda CBR 1000RR 26th - - - - - 59 17th
2009 Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR 1000RR 4th - - - - - 3 39.
2011 Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R 24 - - - - - 42 18th
total 103 - - - - - 365

References

Web links

Commons : Roberto Rolfo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Orasche: Monza: Zemke as a replacement for Rolfo. www.motorsport-total.com, May 8, 2009, accessed March 21, 2009 .
  2. ↑ Rolfo completes Stiggy WSBK line-up. www.crash.net, November 1, 2008, accessed March 21, 2009 .
  3. ^ Rolfo reveals injury concerns. www.crash.net, January 21, 2009, accessed March 21, 2009 .
  4. ↑ Rolfo determined to soldier on. www.crash.net, February 4, 2009, accessed March 21, 2009 .
  5. ↑ Hopkins joins WSBK with Stiggy Honda. www.crash.net, March 20, 2009, accessed March 20, 2009 .
  6. ^ Stiggy confirms Rolfo exit. www.crash.net, March 20, 2009, accessed March 21, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Rolfo, Roberto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roby
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH Turin