Manuel Poggiali (Italian pronunciation: [ˈmanuel podˈdʒali]; born 14 February 1983) is a Sammarinese Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion. He was the 2001 125cc World Champion, and the 2003 250cc World Champion. He scored 12 race wins, 11 pole positions, and 35 podium finishes.[1]

Manuel Poggiali
Poggiali at the 2008 Dutch TT
NationalitySan Marino
Motorcycle racing career statistics
250cc World Championship
Active years2003, 2004, 2006, 2008
ManufacturersAprilia, KTM, Gilera
Championships1
2008 championship position19th (16 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
56 5 13 3 6 410
125cc World Championship
Active years19992002, 2005
ManufacturersAprilia, Gilera
Championships1
2005 championship position10th (107 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
76 7 22 8 1 701

Career

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Poggiali began racing Minibikes in 1994, and made his first Grand Prix starts in 1998, also winning the Italian 125cc Championship that year. He went into the 125cc World Championship full-time in 1999, and showed promise over the next two years, scoring a first podium at Assen in 2000. In 2001 he improved to win the title on a Gilera. He remained in the class in 2002, scoring 7 podiums in the first 8 races but failing to defend his title, losing out to Arnaud Vincent.

For 2003 he moved up to 250s, and followed Freddie Spencer and Tetsuya Harada in winning the title at his first attempt, including victories in the season's first two races. He had a disappointing 2004 however, finishing only 9th overall with just three podium results.

For 2005 he returned to 125s, again looking like a shadow of his former self, failing to take a single podium.[2] In 2006 he raced in the 250cc class for the KTM team, but they did not renew his contract for 2007. Although he received some offers from 125cc, 250cc, and Superbike teams, he decided to refuse the offers and take a sabbatical, hoping to get better offers in 2008. He made his return to racing after announcing that he would ride for Campetella Racing alongside Fabrizio Lai.[3] He decided to retire midseason after losing enthusiasm.

He is also a footballer, he played some matches over the last years for Pennarossa, a football club of San Marino. For 2013 he returned to motorcycle racing and rode in the Italian Superbike Championship for Scuderia Corse Team Grandi aboard a Ducati 1199 Panigale. He finished the season in 14th overall with a second-place finish in the penultimate race of the year at Mugello being his best finish. For 2014 he signed to ride for the Barni Racing Team aboard a Ducati 1199 Panigale in the CIV Superbike Championship and finished 11th overall.

Career statistics

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Source:[4]

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

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Races by year

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(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
1999 125cc Aprilia MAL
12
JPN
18
ESP
9
FRA
Ret
ITA
13
CAT
Ret
NED
13
GBR
Ret
GER
11
CZE
IMO
8
VAL
Ret
AUS
9
RSA
Ret
BRA
7
ARG
Ret
17th 46
2000 125cc Aprilia RSA
MAL
JPN
ESP
9
FRA
8
ITA
Ret
CAT
Ret
NED
3
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
12
POR
Ret
VAL
14
BRA
Ret
PAC
11
AUS
5
16th 53
2001 125cc Gilera JPN
5
RSA
2
ESP
Ret
FRA
1
ITA
3
CAT
3
NED
Ret
GBR
3
GER
3
CZE
Ret
POR
1
VAL
1
PAC
2
AUS
2
MAL
2
BRA
5
1st 241
2002 125cc Gilera JPN
3
RSA
1
ESP
DSQ
FRA
2
ITA
1
CAT
1
NED
2
GBR
3
GER
4
CZE
5
POR
Ret
BRA
3
PAC
2
MAL
4
AUS
1
VAL
7
2nd 254
2003 250cc Aprilia JPN
1
RSA
1
ESP
4
FRA
Ret
ITA
1
CAT
Ret
NED
4
GBR
2
GER
8
CZE
3
POR
2
BRA
1
PAC
3
MAL
2
AUS
9
VAL
3
1st 249
2004 250cc Aprilia RSA
4
ESP
Ret
FRA
Ret
ITA
3
CAT
Ret
NED
7
BRA
1
GER
Ret
GBR
Ret
CZE
9
POR
7
JPN
17
QAT
MAL
AUS
3
VAL
Ret
9th 95
2005 125cc Gilera ESP
6
POR
5
CHN
12
FRA
10
ITA
6
CAT
6
NED
8
GBR
25
GER
11
CZE
8
JPN
6
MAL
8
QAT
7
AUS
13
TUR
11
VAL
Ret
10th 107
2006 250cc KTM ESP
11
QAT
14
TUR
15
CHN
11
FRA
17
ITA
12
CAT
11
NED
10
GBR
Ret
GER
13
CZE
Ret
MAL
11
AUS
13
JPN
12
POR
12
VAL
8
14th 50
2008 250cc Gilera QAT
14
ESP
Ret
POR
17
CHN
Ret
FRA
6
ITA
Ret
CAT
14
GBR
14
NED
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
DNS
RSM
INP
JPN
AUS
MAL
VAL
19th 16

References

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  1. ^ "Manuel Poggiali to leave racing at 25 years of age". twowheelsblog.com. August 22, 2008. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010.
  2. ^ "Manuel Poggiali – a very modern enigma". blogspot.com. 15 October 2006.
  3. ^ Birt, Matthew (19 November 2007). "MotoGP: Manuel Poggiali to make 250GP comeback in 2008". motorcyclenews.com.
  4. ^ Manuel Poggiali career statistics at Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine. Motogp.com. Retrieved on 2016-06-21.
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Preceded by Italian 125cc Champion
1998
Succeeded by