Fausto Gresini (23 January 1961 – 23 February 2021) was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer and racing team manager. He competed in

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

from to , most prominently as a two-time 125cc world champion riding for the Garelli factory racing team. After his racing career, he formed the

Gresini Racing Gresini Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship under the name Gresini Racing MotoGP as a Ducati satellite team, in the Moto2 World Championship as Italjet Gresini Racing Moto2, ...

team which he operated until his death from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

in 2021.

Motorcycle racing career

Gresini was born at

Imola Imola (; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna ...

. He began racing in 1978 at the age of 17 on a

Minarelli Motori Minarelli is an Italian motorcycle engine manufacturer. It is part of the Fantic Motor group. History Motori Minarelli was founded in Bologna in 1951 as a motorcycle manufacturer. In 1954 it also began to build mopeds. Two years later Mi ...

50 in Italy, and in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

he joined the Grand Prix circuit with the

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

team. During his riding career, Gresini won two

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

titles in the 125cc class in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. He was vice-champion in the 125cc class in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

aboard a Garelli and in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

with

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

. He accumulated 21 victories and raced in 132 Grand Prix with 15 second places and 11 third places. He is tied with

Ángel Nieto Ángel Nieto Roldán (25 January 1947 – 3 August 2017) was a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in the history of the sport, winning 13 World Championships and 90 Grand Prix ...

for the record of 11 consecutive victories in the 125 class, accomplished across 1986 and 1987. He holds the record of the most 125cc victories in one season with ten in 1987 - he crashed in the final race but won all others.

Racing team management career

Gresini founded the

team in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

with partner with Fabrizio Cecchini as the technical director, and served as its team principal until his death. His team has won three world championships:

Daijiro Kato was a Japanese people, Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix Motorcycle sport, motorcycle road racing, road racer, the 2001 250cc List of Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champions by year, world champion, and the 2000 and 2002 Suzu ...

in the

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

250cc world championship, Toni Elías in the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Moto2 world championship, and Jorge Martín in the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Moto3 world championship. The team also took the inaugural MotoE World Cup in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

with rider Matteo Ferrari. Gresini experienced two tragedies during his tenure as team principal. Daijiro Kato died in hospital two weeks after crashing during the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix on 6 April

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

. On 23 October

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, the Gresini team suffered another loss when rider

Marco Simoncelli Marco Simoncelli (; 20 January 198723 October 2011), nicknamed Sic (), was an Italian professional Motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He ...

died soon after an accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The team's other rider at the time was Hiroshi Aoyama.

Death

On 27 December 2020, Gresini was hospitalized at the

Ospedale Maggiore The Policlinico of Milan (), also known as Ospedale Maggiore di Milano or Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, is the public district general hospital in Milan. It is one of the oldest hospitals in Italy, founded by Francesco I of the Ho ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

after contracting

amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

. After an apparent initial improvement in his condition, on 18 February 2021 he worsened with a serious lung infection. He died in hospital from the illness' complications on 23 February 2021, at the age of 60, one month after his birthday.Il team annuncia: Fausto Gresini ci ha lasciato
Retrieved 23 February 2021

Grand Prix career statistics

Points system from 1969 to 1987. Points system from 1988 to 1992 Points system from 1993 onwards. ( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

External links