Roberto Rolfo

Infobox Superbike rider


Name = Roberto Rolfo
Caption = Roberto Rolfo 2005
Nationality = flagicon|ITA Italian
Birthdate = March 23, 1980
Birthplace = Torino, Italy
Website = [http://www.robyrolfo.com robyrolfo.com]
Current team = Hannspree Honda Althea
Bike number = 44
Race Starts = 55
Race Wins = 0
Podiums = 0
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 0
Last season = 2008
Last position = 16th (18pts)Infobox Former Grand Prix motorcycle rider


Caption =
Name = Roberto Rolfo
Nationality = flagicon|Italy Italian
Years = 1996, 1998 - 2005
Teams = Honda
Races = 119
Championships =
Wins = 3
Podiums = 18
Points = 921
Poles = 0
Fastest laps = 3
First race = 1996 250cc Italian Grand Prix
First win = 2003 250cc German Grand Prix
Last win = 2004 250cc Spanish Grand Prix
Last race = 2006 MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix

Roberto 'Roby' Rolfo (born March 23, 1980 in Torino, Italy) is a professional motorcycle road racer. He had his best season in 2003, when he finished in second place in the 250cc World Championship. Rolfo competed in the MotoGP class for one year before he switched to the Superbike World Championship, where he remains for SBK|2008.

250cc

Rolfo began competing in the Grand Prix series with a few wildcard entries in 1996. After finishing in third place in the European championship in 1997, Rolfo competed in his first full World Championship season in 1998. In his first season his best result was fifth place in Argentina, and in 1999 it was again a fifth, at Catalunya. In 2000 he finished no higher than sixth.

2001 proved to be a breakthrough year. Riding for the Safilo Aprilia team, he finished fourth in the championship, ahead of the factory Aprilias Riccardo Chiarello and Jeremy McWilliams. After scoring points in the first four races, he scored three podiums in the next four (second at Mugello and Donington Park and 3rd at Catalunya). He only failed to score points twice all season.

In 2002 he raced for the Fortuna-Honda team. He scored five second places, three of them behind countryman and champion Marco Melandri. He only failed to score points once, earning him third place overall in the world championship.

He went one better in 2003, both in terms of race results and championship finish. He was victorious at Sachsenring and Phillip Island en route to finishing the season in second overall. He went into the final race knowing that victory would give him the title unless Manuel Poggiali finished second, but he was down in seventh. He did beat the series' winningest rider that year, Toni Elías, into third overall however.

2004 was not a success by these standards. Rolfo won in Spain, but was not on the podium again, finishing only eighth overall.

MotoGP

After making no advance in 2004, Rolfo moved up to MotoGP for 2005, with the D'Antin Ducati team. Running year-old machinery, on Dunlop tyres which were perceived to be inferior and which the bike was not designed around, and with no team-mate, decent results were always going to be hard to come by. He scored points in nine races, with a best of tenth, to finish 18th overall in the championship.

uperbike World Championship

With no ride available in MotoGP, Roberto switched to the Superbike World Championship for SBK|2006. He raced for Caracchi Ducati team on a privateer bike. He started strongly, with a fifth place and two seventh places in the first four races, but only managed two top ten finishes (both at Monza) in the following five rounds, and ultimately finished 16th overall.

For SBK|2007 he joined the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team, alongside SBK|2004 champion James Toseland. Rolfo managed a career-best fourth place at Monza and Silverstone and finished 8th overall, but was overshadowed by his team-mate's championship win.

He was not retained by Ten Kate Honda for SBK|2008 and signed for Altea Honda, taking Hannspree sponsorship with him. He missed the Monza round due to injury [http://www.worldsbk.com/pubb_EN/news_ext.php?id=2246] . Axed for 2009, he scored a second-row grid position at contract time at Magny-Cours.

External links

* [http://www.robyrolfo.com robyrolfo.com] Official website it icon