Michel Fabrizio

Michel Fabrizio (born 17 September 1984) is a former professional motorcycle road racer. From 2006 to 2015, he raced in the Superbike World Championship. In 2021 he competed in the Supersport World Championship aboard a Kawasaki ZX-6R, before retiring on September 26 from motorsport as a sign of protest after Dean Berta Viñales fatal crash in Jerez.

Michel Fabrizio
Fabrizio at the Silverstone round of the 2012 Superbike World Championship
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1984-09-17) 17 September 1984 (age 40) Frascati, Italy
Current team	G.A.P. Motozoo Racing by Puccetti
Bike number	84
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2004, 2006–2007, 2009, 2014 Manufacturers Harris WCM, Aprilia, Honda, Ducati, ART Championships 0 2014 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 14 0 0 0 0 14 125cc World Championship Active years 2002 Manufacturers Gilera Championships 0 2002 championship position 31st (4 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 16 0 0 0 0 4 Superbike World Championship Active years 2006–2015 Manufacturers Honda, Ducati, Suzuki, BMW, Aprilia, Kawasaki Championships 0 2015 championship position 25th (13 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 218 4 35 1 11 1549.5 Supersport World Championship Active years 2004–2005, 2021 Manufacturers Honda, Kawasaki Championships 0 2021 championship position 37th (6 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 29 0 5 1 3 153

Career

Personal life and early career

Born in Frascati, near 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.

He won the 2003 European Superstock championship aboard a Suzuki GSXR 1000.

MotoGP and World Supersport

In 2004 he made his first appearance in MotoGP, with the Harris WCM team.^[1] Despite his lack of experience and riding with inferior equipment compared to his racing rivals, Fabrizio managed to impress the paddock with several point scoring finishes and by consistently outpacing his teammate, Chris Burns. His most notable result came in the wet at Jerez, where he scored 10th place despite a small crash during the race. Further points scoring finishes occurred in Italy and Germany.

During the Dutch grand prix at Assen, Fabrizio fractured his ankle in a spectacular crash, forcing him to miss the next round in Brazil. He was replaced by 2003 Harris WCM rider David De Gea.^[2] For the Portuguese round in Estoril, Fabrizio was presented with an opportunity to ride for Italian manufacturer Aprilia on the RS Cube. Regular rider Shane Byrne was suffering from a broken wrist, leading Aprilia to fly both Fabrizio and Anthony West out to Mugello to test the bike alongside Jeremy McWilliams. After impressing the team during the test, Fabrizio was selected to replace Byrne at Estoril. In turn, Fabrizio was replaced by British rider James Ellison for the race.^[3]

Realizing his dream of riding for a factory team ended up becoming an unravelling for Fabrizio, as he suffered a violent headshake from the much-maligned RS Cube during the first lap of the race. Despite continuing for 11 laps, the pain became too much and forced Fabrizio to retire from the race. Luckily, no serious injury was suffered, but this proved to not be the end of Fabrizio's problems during the year.^[4][5]

With expectations to return to the Harris WCM team for the next round at Motegi in Japan,^[5] he suddenly found himself without a ride, being replaced by 125cc rider Youichi Ui.^[6] With no options left, Fabrizio retired from the MotoGP season, finishing a disappointing 22nd.

To end his 2004 season, he took a ride with Team Italia Megabike in the Supersport World Championship, competing in the final two rounds of the series. In his first appearance, at his home track of Imola, Fabrizio took an impressive 7th place. At the series finale in France, he gained further notoriety after qualifying 2nd in only his second World Supersport appearance. He failed to finish the race, but had done enough to prove himself.^[7]

In 2005 he raced his first full season 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.^[8]

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.^[9] He stood in for Toni Elías on MotoGP Fortuna Honda at Donington Park, but crashed in practice and broke his collarbone.^[10] He replaced the injured Elías 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.^[11]

In 2008 he raced alongside Troy Bayliss for Ducati Xerox Team on the new Ducati 1098.^[12] He came third in race one at Philip Island, Australia, despite a huge crash at the original start.^[13] 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.^[14] 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.^[15]

After Ducati announced that they would be ending support for their World Superbike operations at the end of the 2010 season,^[16] Fabrizio agreed a contract with Team Suzuki Alstare to race in the 2011 Superbike World Championship season.^[17]

MotoGP World Championship

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.^[18] 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.^[19]

Career statistics

Career summary

Season	Series	Team	Races	Poles	Wins	Points	Position
2002	125cc	Team Italia Gilera	16	0	0	4	31st
2003	European Stock 1000	Team Alstare Corona	9	3	4	152	1st
2004	MotoGP	WCM	10	0	0	8	22nd
		MS Aprilia Racing
	World Supersport	Italia Megabike	2	0	0	9	27th
2005	World Supersport	Team Megabike	12	1	0	138	5th
2006	World Superbike	D.F.X. Treme	24	0	0	125	11th
2007	World Superbike	D.F.X. Corse	25	0	0	132	11th
	MotoGP	Honda Gresini	1	0	0	6	21st
2008	World Superbike	Ducati Xerox	28	0	0	223	8th
2009	World Superbike	Ducati Xerox	28	1	3	382	3rd
	MotoGP	Pramac Racing	1	0	0	0	20th
2010	World Superbike	Ducati Xerox	26	0	1	195	8th
2011	World Superbike	Alstare Suzuki	26	0	0	152	12th
2012	World Superbike	BMW Motorrad Italia	26	0	0	137.5	11th
2013	World Superbike	Red Devils Roma	27	0	0	188	7th
		Pata Honda World Superbike
2014	World Superbike	Iron Brain Grillini Kawasaki	6	0	0	2	32nd
	MotoGP	Octo IodaRacing Team	2	0	0	0	NC
2015	World Superbike	Althea Racing	2	0	0	13	25th

CIV 125cc Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	Pos	Pts
2001	Aprilia	MIS1	MON	VAL Ret	MIS2 10	MIS3 9	16th	13

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

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	18	Pos	Pts
2002	125cc	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	Harris WCM	RSA 18	SPA 10	FRA 16	ITA 15	CAT 16	NED Ret	BRA	GER 15	GBR 20	CZE 17									22nd	8
		Aprilia											POR Ret	JPN	QAT	MAL	AUS	VAL
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA	QAT	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR WD	GER	USA	CZE	MAL	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL		NC	0
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	INP	RSM	POR	AUS	MAL	VAL		NC	0
2014	MotoGP	ART	QAT	AME	ARG	SPA	FRA	ITA Ret	CAT 20	NED	GER	INP	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	NC	0

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	Pos	Pts
2004	Honda	SPA	AUS	SMR	ITA	GER	GBR	GBR	NED	ITA 7	FRA Ret															27th	9
2005	Honda	QAT 3	AUS Ret	SPA 4	ITA 4	EUR Ret	SMR Ret	CZE 2	GBR 2	NED 3	GER 5	ITA 4	FRA 3													5th	138
2021	Kawasaki	SPA 14	SPA 21	POR 16	POR Ret	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	NED 13	NED 15	CZE 22	CZE Ret	SPA Ret	SPA 20	FRA Ret	FRA DNS	SPA 21	SPA 21	SPA C	SPA DNS	POR	POR	ARG	ARG	INA	INA	37th	6

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
		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
2006	Honda	QAT 5	QAT 8	AUS 15	AUS 11	SPA 13	SPA 10	ITA Ret	ITA 14	EUR Ret	EUR 15	SMR Ret	SMR 6	CZE 3	CZE 2	GBR Ret	GBR 12	NED 3	NED 10	GER Ret	GER 8	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA 11	FRA 13					11th	125
2007	Honda	QAT Ret	QAT 12	AUS Ret	AUS 9	EUR 13	EUR 12	SPA 7	SPA 11	NED 12	NED 6	ITA 8	ITA 11	GBR Ret	GBR C	SMR Ret	SMR Ret	CZE 6	CZE 3	GBR 5	GBR 4	GER Ret	GER 13	ITA 5	ITA Ret	FRA 14	FRA 9			11th	132
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 Ret	USA 5	SMR Ret	SMR 6	SPA Ret	SPA 4	CZE 4	CZE 4	GBR Ret	GBR 9	GER 16	GER Ret	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA 12	FRA Ret	POR 11	POR 14			12th	152
2012	BMW	AUS 6	AUS Ret	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	NED 6	NED 10	ITA C	ITA DNS	EUR 10	EUR 13	USA 9	USA 12	SMR 14	SMR 6	SPA 6	SPA 11	CZE 8	CZE 10	GBR 2	GBR 13	RUS 5	RUS Ret	GER Ret	GER Ret	POR 10	POR 8	FRA 12	FRA Ret	11th	137.5
2013	Aprilia	AUS 3	AUS 4	SPA 8	SPA 11	NED 12	NED 9	ITA 6	ITA 5	GBR 10	GBR 10	POR 7	POR 10	ITA 5	ITA 8	RUS 5	RUS C	GBR 14	GBR 11	GER 6	GER 8									7th	188
	Honda																					TUR 10	TUR 10	USA 13	USA 10	FRA 7	FRA Ret	SPA 17	SPA 14
2014	Kawasaki	AUS WD	AUS WD	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	NED Ret	NED 14	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	GBR	GBR	MAL	MAL	SMR	SMR	POR	POR	USA	USA	SPA	SPA	FRA	FRA	QAT	QAT					32nd	2
2015	Ducati	AUS	AUS	THA	THA	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA 10	ITA 9	GBR	GBR	POR	POR	SMR	SMR	USA	USA	MAL	MAL	SPA	SPA	FRA	FRA	QAT	QAT			25th	13

References

1. "Ducati signs Michel Fabrizio for 2008 season". us.motorsport.com. 11 September 2007. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
2. Sports, Dorna. "De Gea replaces injured Fabrizio at WCM | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
3. "Fabrizio to race Byrne's Aprilia". Crash. 2004-08-31. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
4. Sports, Dorna. "Fabrizio gets bitten by the Cube | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
5. "'Big shock' sends Fabrizio into retirement". Crash. 2004-09-06. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
6. "Ui gets WCM ride, Jacque 'happy to be back'". Crash. 2004-09-16. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
7. "Michel Fabrizio". Crash. 2009-01-23. Retrieved 2022-11-24.
8. "world-supersport-600". Website.lineone.net. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
9. "BBC SPORT | Motorsport | Motorbikes | Toseland and Corser win in Qatar". News.bbc.co.uk. 25 February 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
10. "Honda Racing Communications Centre". www.honda-racing.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2006. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
11. "MotorcycleUSA.com - Michel Fabrizio". Motorcycle-usa.com. Archived from the original on 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
12. "Ducati Corse Signs Michel Fabrizio For 2008". Londonbikers.com. Archived from the original on 2008-10-08. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
13. "World Superbikes: Troy Bayliss and Michael Fabrizio to miss Valencia test - Motorcycle Sport". Motorcyclenews.com. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
14. "WSB: Checa pulls off US double - Visordown Motorcycle news : Racing news". Visordown.com. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
15. "Fabrizio fastest, Ducati dominates final test". crash.net. Crash Media Group. 2010-02-22. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
16. "Ducati to quit WSB". Insidebikes. Carole Nash. 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
17. "Fabrizio confirmed as sole Alstare entry". Insidebikes. Carole Nash. 2010-10-14. Retrieved 2010-10-14.
18. "Stoner out for three races as Kallio steps in". GPUpdate.net. 2009-08-10. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
19. "Espargaró to make MotoGP debut at Indy | MotoGP™".

External links

• Michel Fabrizio at MotoGP.com
• Michel Fabrizio at WorldSBK.com
• Michel Fabrizio at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
• Michel Fabrizio at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)