Lucio Cecchinello

Infobox Former Grand Prix motorcycle rider


|Caption =
Name = Lucio Cecchinello
Nationality = flagicon|Italy Italian
Years = 1993 - 1994, 1996 - 2003
Teams = Aprilia, Honda
Races = 149
Championships = 0
Wins = 7
Podiums = 12
Points = 914
Poles = 3
Fastest laps = 0
First race = 1993 125cc Australian Grand Prix
First win = 1998 125cc Madrid Grand Prix
Last win = 2003 125cc Italian Grand Prix
Last race = 2003 500cc Valencia Grand Prix

Lucio Cecchinello (born on November 21, 1969 in Venice, Italy), is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and currently a Moto GP team manager for Team LCR, with Randy de Puniet as his rider.

Career

Lucio began to cultivate his passion for racing motorcycles after working as a motorcycle mechanic for teams in national and international racing. He started to race motorcycles in 1989, when he was a rider in the Italian Sport Production Championship, riding an Honda 125NSR. In his third race at Monza, he obtained his first victory. Other victories and pole positions gave him self-confidence, and in 1990, he finished second behind Max Biaggi.

In 1991 Lucio made his debut in the European Championship riding for the Team Italia (where he was a mechanic 3 years before) and he obtained the 10th final position. Riding for the Team Italia again in 1992, Lucio was Vice European Champion. In 1993 he joined the 125 World Championship, riding for the Gazzaniga Team. In 1994 the GIVI team offered him the opportunity to ride a private Honda RS125 and gained his first world championship points. In 1995 the Pileri team gave him the opportunity race a Honda RS125 in the European Championship, during which he won 8 of the 11 races and won the European 125cc championship.

1996 was a turning point for Cecchinello. He organized his own small team for the 125cc World Championship, earning several good results in the top ten. It was the same in 1997 and in 1998. After 4 Grands Prix, Cecchinello obtained his first Grand Prix victory in the Madrid Grand Prix at Jarama.

In 2001, Cecchinello took another victory at the Catalan Grand Prix and ended the season in fourth place. 2002 would be his best year when he claimed three victories, and again finished fourth in the final standings. In his final year of competition, he accomplished a dream by winning his home Grand Prix at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix.

Moto GP - Team Manager