Mike Di Meglio

Mike Di Meglio
Di Meglio at the 2009 British Grand Prix.
Nationality	French
Born	17 January 1988 (1988-01-17) (age 23)[1] Toulouse (France)
Current team	Tech 3
Bike number	63
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2010– Manufacturers RSV-Honda, Suter-Honda, Tech 3-Honda Championships 0 2011 Championship position 23rd (30 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 33 0 0 0 0 64 250cc World Championship Active years 2009 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 0 2009 Championship position 8th (107 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 16 0 2 1 0 107 125cc World Championship Active years 2003–2008 Manufacturers Honda, Aprilia, Derbi Championships 1 (2008) 2008 Championship position 1st (264 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 91 5 11 2 4 464

Mike Di Meglio (born 17 January 1988 in Toulouse, France) is a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and 2008 world champion^[2] in the 125cc class. Of Italian descent, his paternal grandfather was born in Lentini (Province of Siracusa).

Di Meglio first came to the attention of the Fédération Française de Motocyclisme (French Motorcycle Federation) 2002 Prix de l'Avenir. He also took a trial with the Liegois team in Carole, with whom he took part in a Spanish Championship race. Later he raced at world championship level in 2003

Biography

2003, Debut with Aprilia, switch to Honda later

When Di Meglio turned 15 years old, he decided to accept offers by the Italian Freesoul Racing Team on Aprilia to debut in the 125cc world championship in 2003. Although he managed to score points, including 13th place at Catalunya, it was a difficult season for him, crashing often and not achieving good results. Later, at the mid-season, he was offered by the Italian MetaSystem Rg Service to replace Italian veteran Andrea Ballerini, but this time the team was on Honda, he tried to attempt to achieve his goals, but he failed to improve and didn't score any championship points.

2004, Ride with Globet.com, first front-row start and first top five finish

After a disappointing 2003, Di Meglio vowed to salvage a wrecked debut. He signed with Globet.com Racing on Aprilia alongside with Gino Borsoi for the 2004 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The start was promising with a front-row start and a fifth place finish at South Africa, but he failed to be consistent due to several crashes.

2005, Ride with Team Scot, first podium and first win

Di Meglio stayed with the same team for 2005, but his team joined forces with Team Scot which runs on Honda machinery, the same team that helped Andrea Dovizioso win the 2004 125cc World Championship. Di Meglio was their official rider on board on a factory Honda RS125RW along with Fabrizio Lai but it was under the Kopron Racing World name. His performance improved, scoring points regularly. He performed heroically at the French Grand Prix by fighting for a podium position, finishing fourth and making his home fans happy and entertained. However, it was his podium finish in the wet British Grand Prix by finishing second place behind Julián Simón, which gave him a reputation as a wet weather expert. He also finished a credible fourth place in the hot Qatar Grand Prix ahead of future 125cc champion Thomas Luthi. The high point of the season for the Frenchman was his controversial win at the Turkish Grand Prix, when Mika Kallio crashed and race leader Luthi had run wide to avoid him.

2006, Ride with FFM Honda GP 125cc. Disaster strikes

He joined the Fédération Française de Motocyclisme's world championship team run by Alain Bronec for 2006. The FFM Honda GP 125 team also provided him with a factory bike just like the previous season, but despite his big ambitions & a factory bike, he suffered an injury, & a huge blow, just scoring only four races that resulted into eight points only. He left the team immediately for Team Scot the following year after Portugal as the result of his performance with the team.

2007, Return to Team Scot. Master of wet races

For 2007, Di Meglio returned to Team Scot, the team that had helped him win his first Grand Prix in 2005. He was teamed with the young Italian Stefano Musco. In the first few races, he managed to score championship points. He had a very bad crash during the qualifying session of the Spanish Grand Prix, breaking his collarbone and was forced to miss the Turkish Grand Prix as a result. He returned in China to a fourteenth place finish and followed that with a ninth place at Le Mans. A front row start at Mugello did not come to much either as he crashed out on the third lap of the race. After this, several disappointing race results followed except in the wet race at Donington, where he finished in sixth place and in Japan, where he finished fourth despite crashing out of second place while chasing race leader Mattia Pasini.

2008, Ride with Ajo Motorsport and maiden world title

For 2008, he was offered to ride with the Finnish Ajo Motorsport, teamed with Dominique Aegerter. He returned to Aprilia machines, but officially rides for Aprilia's sister Piaggio company, Derbi. He is riding the Derbi RSA 125 factory bike. His campaign started slowly with in Qatar finishing in fourth, beaten to the podium at the line by Stefan Bradl. In Spain and Portugal, Di Meglio picked up minor points and trailed title contender Simone Corsi, but starting in China, Corsi's pace started to slip away including a crash from a minor incident with Lorenzo Zanetti and reigning world champion Gábor Talmácsi struggling that allow Di Meglio to take full advantage. A win in the shortened French Grand Prix started a consistent run lasting until at San Marino where he crashed out while fighting for third place with Corsi. At the Australian Grand Prix, Di Meglio became the only second Frenchman to win the world championship after Arnaud Vincent.

2009, Move to 250cc Class with Mapfre Aspar Team

For 2009, he moved up to the 250cc class with the Aspar Racing Team, alongside Álvaro Bautista. In his debut race in Qatar he qualified third but dropped back to 11th on lap 1, before fighting back. He ran fifth in the later stages, but aggressively passed Bautista on the final lap before passing Raffaele de Rosa for third. He did not take another top five finish until round ten at Donington, but hit form from this point on. He took pole at Indianapolis, and claimed second place at Estoril in a photo-finish with Héctor Barberá. He was fighting for top rookie honours with de Rosa but lost out to him as a result of crashing out in Valencia while de Rosa finished third.

2010, Ride in Moto2 still with Mapfre Aspar Team

The 2010 saw the debut of the Moto2 class as the new intermediate class of Grand Prix racing, replacing the 250cc class. Di Meglio failed to take full advantage of it, with several poor race finishes in the first three races of the season and a crash at Mugello. Di Meglio took his first points-scoring finishes at British and Dutch rounds with seventh & eighth respectively. Despite his good results at those rounds, he failed to be competitive again until Australia where he finished in sixth place, having started on the front row.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2003–2008	2003 JPN	2005 GBR	2005 TUR	91	5	11	2	4	464	1
250 cc	2009	2009 QAT	2009 QAT		16	0	2	1	0	107	0
Moto2	2010–	2010 QAT			33	0	0	0	0	64	0
Total	2003–Present				140	5	13	3	4	635

By seasons and teams

Season	Class	Team	Moto	Races	Wins	Podiums	Poles	Fastest Laps	Pts	Position
2003	125cc	Freesoul Racing Team	Aprilia	10	0	0	0	0	5	28th
		MetaSystem Rg Service	Honda	5	0	0	0	0	0
2004	125cc	Globet. com Racing	Aprilia	14	0	0	0	0	41	18th
2005	125cc	Kopron Racing World	Honda	16	1	2	0	0	104	11th
2006	125cc	FFM Honda GP 125	Honda	14	0	0	0	0	8	25th
2007	125cc	Kopron Team Scot	Honda	15	0	0	0	0	42	17th
2008	125cc	Ajo Motorsport	Derbi	17	4	9	2	4	264	1st
2009	250cc	Mapfre Aspar team	Aprilia	16	0	2	1	0	107	8th
2010	Moto2	Bancaja Aspar Racing Team	RSV	16	0	0	0	0	34	20th
			Suter
2011	Moto2	Tech 3	Tech 3	17	0	0	0	0	30	23rd
Total				140	5	13	3	4	635

Races by year

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

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos	Pts
2003	125cc	Aprilia	JPN 22	RSA 22	SPA 28	FRA 17	ITA Ret	CAT 13	NED 19	GBR 15	GER Ret	CZE 15	POR							28th	5
		Honda												BRA Ret	PAC Ret	MAL 22	AUS Ret	VAL Ret
2004	125cc	Aprilia	RSA 5	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 12	BRA 12	GER Ret	GBR 15	CZE 24	POR 11	JPN Ret	QAT	MAL 17	AUS 8	VAL		18th	41
2005	125cc	Honda	SPA 11	POR 11	CHN 20	FRA 4	ITA Ret	CAT 16	NED 14	GBR 2	GER Ret	CZE 7	JPN 11	MAL 11	QAT 4	AUS 14	TUR 1	VAL Ret		11th	104
2006	125cc	Honda	SPA 21	QAT Ret	TUR Ret	CHN 15	FRA 27	ITA Ret	CAT 18	NED 13	GBR 16	GER	CZE 13	MAL Ret	AUS 15	JPN Ret	POR Ret	VAL		25th	8
2007	125cc	Honda	QAT 14	SPA	TUR	CHN 14	FRA 9	ITA Ret	CAT 19	GBR 6	NED Ret	GER 15	CZE 20	RSM 13	POR 16	JPN 4	AUS 14	MAL 14	VAL 23	17th	42
2008	125cc	Derbi	QAT 4	SPA 9	POR 7	CHN 2	FRA 1	ITA 4	CAT 1	GBR 2	NED 7	GER 1	CZE 2	RSM Ret	IND 10	JPN 2	AUS 1	MAL 5	VAL 3	1st	264
2009	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 3	JPN Ret	SPA 11	FRA Ret	ITA 12	CAT 14	NED 11	GER Ret	GBR 5	CZE 9	IND 4	RSM 5	POR 2	AUS 5	MAL Ret	VAL 14		8th	107
2010	Moto2	RSV	QAT 16	SPA 22																20th	34
		Suter			FRA 20	ITA Ret	GBR 7	NED 8	CAT Ret	GER Ret	CZE 20	IND 12	RSM Ret	ARA 13	JPN 18	MAL 26	AUS 6	POR DNQ	VAL 26
2011	Moto2	Tech 3	QAT 19	SPA 26	POR 9	FRA Ret	CAT Ret	GBR 17	NED Ret	ITA 24	GER 16	CZE 15	IND 27	RSM 16	ARA 12	JPN 27	AUS 9	MAL 14	VAL 7	23rd	30

References

1. ^ Official MotoGP profile
2. ^ afp.google.com, France's Di Meglio wins motorcycle 125cc world championship

External links

• Mike Di Meglio's official website
• Mike Di Meglio Profile at Yahoo! Sport
• Team Aspar web site

Preceded by Gábor Talmácsi

125 cc Motorcycle World Champion 2008

Succeeded by Julián Simón

Persondata
Name	Di Meglio, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	17 January 1988
Place of birth	Toulouse (France)
Date of death
Place of death