Stefano Perugini

Perugini in 2003 on Aprilia at the Japanese Grand Prix

Stefano Perugini (born September 10, 1974 in Viterbo ) is a former Italian motorcycle racer .

Career

125 cc class

Stefano Perugini made his debut at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix in Misano as a wildcard driver in the motorcycle world championship . In the same year, the Italian secured the title in the 125 cm³ classes of the European Championship and the Italian Championship on Aprilia .

In 1994 , at the age of 19, Perugini competed permanently in the 125cc World Championship on Aprilia for Team Italia IPA Corse . After a few starting difficulties, he improved during the season and achieved his first podium finish at the British Grand Prix in Donington Park with second place behind Takeshi Tsujimura . After a total of four podium places in the last five races, the Italian achieved seventh place in the overall standings with 106 points. In the following season , Perugini continued to start for the IPA team, again achieved three podium places and was sixth in the World Cup. In 1996 Stefano Perugini won his first Grand Prix at the opening race in Malaysia . In the further course of the season he won the races in France and Great Britain. However, the Italian only got nine points from the last six races, which meant sixth in the final standings.

250 cc class

For the 1997 season, Perugini moved to the 250 cc class with the Nastro Azzuro Aprilia team , for which he had already started the previous year. The Italian achieved his best result with fifth place in the Dutch TT and was the best Aprilia private driver in ninth place in the World Championship. The following season Perugini moved to the Castrol 250 team , where he drove a Honda . He reached third places in Great Britain and Imola and finished the World Cup in seventh place. In 1999 Stefano Perugini drove 15 times to the points in the 16 races on a Honda from the Tino Villa Racing team and thus secured fifth place in the World Championship.

Return to the 125s

In 2000 Perugini did not take part in the motorcycle world championship. For the 2001 season he returned to the eight-liter class and started two years for the Italjet factory team, which were not very successful with World Cup ranks 21 and 17. In 2003 Stefano Perugini drove another Aprilia, this time for the Abruzzo Racing Team . He won the season opener in Japan and also won the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring . After two further podium places in Great Britain and the Czech Republic , Perugini achieved the best World Cup position of his career with fourth place. In the 2004 season Stefano Perugini started together with compatriot Fabrizio Lai for the Gilera factory team Metis Gilera Racing Team . However, he drove into the points only four times and finished the world championship in 24th. Then the Italian ended his World Cup career.

statistics

title

• 1993
  • 125 cc European champion on Aprilia
  • Italian 125cc champion on Aprilia
• 5 Grand Prix victories

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
1993	125 cc		Aprilia	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994	125 cc	Team Italia IPA Corse	Aprilia	14th	-	2	2	-	2	106	7th
1995	125 cc	Team IPA Aprilia	Aprilia	13	-	4th	-	2	2	118	6th
1996	125 cc	Nastro Azzuro Aprilia	Aprilia	14th	3	1	-	-	-	128	6th
1997	250 cc	Nastro Azzuro Aprilia	Aprilia	15th	-	-	-	-	-	85	9.
1998	250 cc	Castrol 250 team	Honda	14th	-	-	2	-	-	102	7th
1999	250 cc	Tino Villa Racing	Honda	16	-	-	1	-	1	151	5.
2001	125 cc	Italjet Racing Team	Italjet	16	-	-	-	-	1	25th	21st
2002	125 cc	Italjet Racing Service	Italjet	16	-	-	-	-	-	28	17th
2003	125 cc	Abruzzo Racing Team	Gilera	16	2	1	1	3	2	162	4th
2004	125 cc	Metis Gilera Racing Team	Aprilia	16	-	-	-	-	-	14th	24.
total				151	5	8th	6th	5	8th	919

Web links

• Stefano Perugini on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
• Photos by Perugini at highsider.com