Michel Fabrizio

Michel Fabrizio Fabrizio at the Brands Hatch round of the 2007 Superbike World Championship season. Nationality Italian Born September 17, 1984 (1984-09-17) (age 27) Rome, Italy Current team Team Alstare Suzuki Bike number 84 Website michelfabrizio.net

Motorcycle racing career statistics Grand Prix motorcycle racing Active years 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009 First race 2002 125 cc Japanese Grand Prix Last race 2009 MotoGP Czech Republic Grand Prix Team(s) Gilera, Aprilia, Honda, Ducati Championships 0 Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 28 0 0 0 0 18

Michel Fabrizio (born 17 September 1984 in Rome, Italy) is a professional motorcycle road racer. Since 2008, he has been racing for Ducati Xerox Team alongside Noriyuki Haga on the new Ducati 1198 in the Superbike World Championship.

Early years

Born in Rome, Fabrizio first raced in Minimoto at the age of 6, winning several titles before reaching his teens. He won the Aprilia Challenge in 2001, and raced in the 125 cc World Championship for Gilera in 2002, with little success.

In 2004 he made his first appearance in MotoGP, with the WCM team, failing to complete the season and finishing the season 22nd cc-gp.htm^{[dead link]}.

In 2005 he raced in the Supersport World Championship, on a factory Honda. He was 5th overall, with 9 top 5 results in the 12 races, although without a win.^[1]

Superbike World Championship

For 2006 Fabrizio was teamed with the veteran Pierfrancesco Chili on privateer Honda machinery. He started his career with fifth and eighth at Qatar.^[2] He stood in for Toni Elías on MotoGP Fortuna Honda at Donington Park, but crashed in practice and broke his collarbone.^[3] He replaced the injured Elias again for the same team in the 2007 German Grand Prix at Sachsenring on July 15, 2007.

At Brno in the 2006 Superbike World Championship, he started tenth, but chose hard-compound tyres, which remained on the pace as other riders faded. In the first race he passed a fading Andrew Pitt as well as Fonsi Nieto, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga in the closing laps to score his first Superbike World Championship podium finish. In race two he fared even better - after passing James Toseland for fourth towards the end, he caught the battle for second between Haga and Corser. As Corser attempted a move, Fabrizio dived down the inside of both, slithering and nearly hitting Haga, before edging ahead of them both to the line, immediately improving on his career-best result with a second. His best results of 2007 were two third places, at Assen and Brno. In both seasons he was eleventh overall.^[4]

In 2008 he raced alongside Troy Bayliss for Ducati Xerox Team on the new Ducati 1098.^[5] He came third in race one at Philip Island, Australia, despite a huge crash at the original start.^[6] At Miller Motorsports Park, he qualified on the front row and took a pair of third places, despite dropping to eleventh on lap one of the first race.^[7] He had a double-DNF at Assen, shortly before an arm operation, and finished a career-best 8th overall.

For 2009, he stays on at Ducati Xerox, partnering Noriyuki Haga after Bayliss' retirement. His first WSBK win (in his 94th start) came at Monza after Ben Spies ran out of fuel. Seven successive podiums followed, cementing his third place in the standings behind Haga and Spies. This run ended at Brno when he took Spies down as they battled for the lead. He finished the season third overall.

Fabrizio and Haga both continue with the team for 2010. The bike dominated pre-season testing at Phillip Island.^[8]

After Ducati announced that they would be ending support for their World Superbike operations at the end of the 2010 season,^[9] Fabrizio agreed a contract with Team Suzuki Alstare to race in the 2011 Superbike World Championship season.^[10]

MotoGP

In August 2009, after Casey Stoner announced his intention to withdraw from the next three Grand Prix, it was announced that his place in the Ducati Marlboro team would be taken by Mika Kallio whilst the Finn's place at Pramac Racing would be taken by Fabrizio.^[11] His race was marred by physical difficulties, which caused him to retire from the first race in Brno. Fabrizio then being unavailable for the next race in Indianapolis the ride was given to Aleix Espargaró for the remaining two races.^[12]

Racing record

Career summary

Season	Series	Team Name	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Final Placing
2002	Grand Prix 125cc	Team Italia Gilera	16	0	0	4	31st
2003	World Stock 1000	Team Alstare Corona	9	3	4	?	1st
2004	MotoGP	WCM	10	0	0	8	22nd
2005	World Supersport	Team Megabike	12	1	0	138	5th
2006	World Superbikes	D.F.X. Treme	24	0	0	125	11th
2007	World Superbikes	D.F.X. Corse	25	0	0	132	11th
	MotoGP	Honda Gresini	1	0	0	6	21st
2008	World Superbikes	Ducati Xerox	28	0	0	223	8th
2009	World Superbikes	Ducati Xerox	28	1	3	382	3rd
	MotoGP	Pramac Racing	1	0	0	0	20th*

*Season in progress.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Pos	Pts
2002	125 cc	Gilera	JPN Ret	RSA 15	SPA 18	FRA 17	ITA 16	CAT Ret	NED Ret	GBR Ret	GER 23	CZE 25	POR Ret	BRA 23	PAC 13	MAL 26	AUS Ret	VAL 20			31st	4
2004	MotoGP	Aprilia	RSA 18	SPA 10	FRA 16	ITA 15	CAT 16	NED Ret	BRA	GER 15	GBR 20	CZE 17	POR Ret	JPN	QAT	MAL	AUS	VAL			22nd	8
2007	MotoGP	Honda	QAT	ESP	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER 10	USA	CZE	RSM	POR	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	21st	6
2009	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT	JPN	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	USA	GER	GBR	CZE Ret	IND	SMR	POR	AUS	MAL	VAL		20th*	0*

World Superbike Championship

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Make	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts	Ref
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2008	Ducati	QAT 9	QAT 5	AUS 3	AUS 19	SPA Ret	SPA 13	NED Ret	NED Ret	ITA 9	ITA 5	USA 3	USA 3	GER 7	GER 6	SMR Ret	SMR 11	CZE 3	CZE 2	GBR 12	GBR 6	EUR Ret	EUR 5	ITA 7	ITA 2	FRA Ret	FRA 14	POR Ret	POR 2	8th	223
2009	Ducati	AUS 4	AUS 5	QAT Ret	QAT Ret	SPA 2	SPA 3	NED 9	NED 4	ITA 1	ITA 2	RSA 2	RSA 2	USA 3	USA 2	SMR 3	SMR 2	GBR 12	GBR 3	CZE Ret	CZE 3	GER 7	GER 9	ITA 3	ITA 1	FRA 4	FRA 13	POR 5	POR 1	3rd	382
2010	Ducati	AUS 2	AUS 3	POR 11	POR 11	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	NED 13	NED 12	ITA 7	ITA Ret	RSA 1	RSA 8	USA Ret	USA 9	SMR 4	SMR 3	CZE Ret	CZE 3	GBR 4	GBR Ret	GER Ret	GER 19	ITA 7	ITA Ret	FRA 6	FRA 3			8th	195
2011	Suzuki	AUS 6	AUS 8	EUR Ret	EUR 7	NED 5	NED 7	ITA 5	ITA 3	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	SPA	SPA	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR			7th	74

References

1. ^ "world-supersport-600". Website.lineone.net. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070930040654/http%3A//website.lineone.net/%7Emouser/motorsport/2005/world-supersport600/world-supersport-600.htm. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
2. ^ "BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Toseland and Corser win in Qatar". News.bbc.co.uk. Last Updated:. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/motorbikes/4750136.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
3. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20061006163428/http://www.honda-racing.co.uk/twowheels/motogp/article.asp?a=3060
4. ^ "MotorcycleUSA.com - Michel Fabrizio". Motorcycle-usa.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. http://web.archive.org/web/20070816133931/http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Racing_RiderBio.aspx?Series=14&Rider=856. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
5. ^ "Ducati Corse Signs Michel Fabrizio For 2008". Londonbikers.com. http://londonbikers.com/news/6808/ducati-corse-signs-michel-fabrizio-for-2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
6. ^ "World Superbikes: Troy Bayliss and Michael Fabrizio to miss Valencia test - Motorcycle Sport". Motorcyclenews.com. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport/sportresults/mcn/2008/march/1-9/mar0808worldsuperbikestroybaylissmichelfabriziomissvalenciatest/?&R=EPI-99116. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
7. ^ "WSB: Checa pulls off US double - Visordown Motorcycle news : Racing news". Visordown.com. http://www.visordown.com/motorcyclenews/view/wsb_checa_pulls_off_us_double/4871.html. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
8. ^ "Fabrizio fastest, Ducati dominates final test". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2010-02-22. http://www.crash.net/world+superbikes/news/157051/1/fabrizio_fastest_ducati_dominates_final_test.html. Retrieved 2010-02-22. 
9. ^ "Ducati to quit WSB". Insidebikes (Carole Nash). 2010-08-27. http://www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-sport/ducati-to-quit-wsb.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
10. ^ "Fabrizio confirmed as sole Alstare entry". Insidebikes (Carole Nash). 2010-10-14. http://www.carolenash.com/insidebikes/bike-sport/fabrizio-confirmed-as-sole-alstare-entry.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-14. 
11. ^ "Stoner out for three races as Kallio steps in". GPUpdate.net. 2009-08-10. http://www.gpupdate.net/en/motogp-news/217397/stoner-out-for-three-races-as-kallio-steps-in/. Retrieved 2011-01-30. 
12. ^ http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2009/Espargar+to+make+MotoGP+debut+at+Indy

External links

• michelfabrizio.net Official website (Italian)

Persondata
Name	Fabrizio, Michel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1984-09-17
Place of birth	Rome, Italy
Date of death
Place of death