Leandro Denis "Tati" Mercado (born 15 February 1992) is a motorcycle racer from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

who competed in the

2022 Superbike World Championship The 2022 Superbike World Championship was the 35th season of the Superbike World Championship. The championship was won by Álvaro Bautista, who became World Champion in 2022 after finishing 2nd in Race 2 at the Mandalika International Street Cir ...

aboard a

Honda CBR1000RR The Honda CBR1000RR, marketed in some countries with the Fireblade suffix (capitalized as FireBlade until the 2000s), is a sport bike produced by Honda since 2004 as the seventh generation of the Honda CBR series, CBR Honda Fireblade, Fireblade s ...

for Team MIE Racing. He is best known for winning the National title of the

AMA Supersport Championship AMA Supersport is an American motorcycle racing series. The race series was founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1987. The road racing series allows motorcycles of up to 600cc engine capacity. The American Mot ...

in 2009 and the

FIM Superstock 1000 Cup The European Superstock 1000 Championship, formerly FIM Superstock 1000 Cup or Superstock 1000 FIM Cup, was a supporting class to the Superbike World Championship. Overview The series was introduced in 1999 as a European championship and in Octob ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Career

Junior career

After finishing third in the Red Bull AMA Rookies Cup in 2008, the following year Mercado achieved the same result in the East division of the

and won the National title in the Shootout race held in

Daytona Daytona may refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach, Florida * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Daytona, the region around Daytona Beach Motor racing * Dayto ...

. In 2010 he was seventh in the CIV Stock 600 Championship and contested three races of the

European Superstock 600 Championship The European Superstock 600 Championship was a support class to the Superbike World Championship at the European rounds. The championship used 600 cc production motorcycles and was reserved for riders between 15 and 24 years of age. Same rules as ...

on a

Kawasaki ZX-6R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R is a Sport bike#Super sport, ''600 cc'' class motorcycle in the Kawasaki Ninja, Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine, Kawasaki. It was introduced in 19 ...

, while in 2011 he finished sixth in the CIV Stock 1000 Championship and sixteenth in the

on a

Kawasaki ZX-10R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, the successor to the Ninja ZX-9R. It was originally released in 2004 and has been updated and revised throughout the years. It co ...

Superstock and Superbike World Championship

In 2012 Mercado raced in the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Superbike World Champion ...

for eight rounds in the first half of the season, before moving back to the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup. He was twenty-sixth and fifteenth respectively in the standings. For the following two seasons, he continued competing in the Superstock category, finishing fourth in 2013 with Kawasaki machinery, and winning the 2014 title on a

Ducati 1199 The Ducati 1199 Panigale is a Ducati sport bike introduced at the 2011 Milan Motorcycle Show. The motorcycle is named after the small manufacturing town of Borgo Panigale. Ducati had announced a larger displacement 1299 Panigale for the 2015 m ...

. For

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, he returned to the Superbike World Championship full time, finishing eighth in the final standings. In

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

he once again returned to the Superstock category, where he finished as runner-up. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, he would ride for

IodaRacing Project IodaRacing Project is an Italian motorcycle constructor and racing team based in Terni, Italy. The team currently fields Aprilia motorcycles in the Superbike World Championship with Leandro Mercado and with Yamaha motorcycles in the Supersport ...

on an Aprilia RSV4 in the Superbike championship, finishing 13th in the championship, with 115 points. Mercado switched to Kawasaki for the

2018 Superbike World Championship The 2018 Superbike World Championship was the 31st season of the Superbike World Championship. 2018 was the final season run with the two-race format, as a three-race format was introduced for 2019. Race calendar and results Entry list ...

, riding the

Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is a motorcycle in the Kawasaki Ninja, Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine, Kawasaki, the successor to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-9R, Ninja ZX-9R. It was origi ...

, but only finished 15th at the end of the season, with 70 points. He would stay with Kawasaki for

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 ...

, but the results would remain the same, 80 points and 16th in the standings at the end of the year. For the

2020 Superbike World Championship The 2020 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship was the 33rd season of the Superbike World Championship. Race calendar and results The 2020 season calendar was announced on 21 November 2019, with 13 rounds scheduled. The championship visited Circ ...

, Mercado switched to a

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

, riding for Motocorsa Racing team, on a

Ducati Panigale V4 The Ducati Panigale V4 is a sport bike with a Desmodromic valve, desmodromic 90° V4 engine, V4 engine introduced by Ducati in 2018 as the successor to the V-twin engine, V-twin engined Ducati 1299, 1299. A smaller engine displacement version co ...

. After missing the opening rounds in Australia, Mercado was also forced to miss time in the middle of the season due to injuries, missing 10 races altogether, and therefore only finished 16th at the end of the year, with 24 points. In

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, Mercado would switch teams again, this time riding a

, for MIE Racing Honda Team. Once again, injuries plagued Mercado's season, as well as a covid-19 absence from the Czech weekend, leading to a career-low 26 points from him in the season, and 21st in the standings. Nevertheless, Honda announced that he would stay for

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, partnered by Hafizh Syahrin. In 2023, Mercado was without a ride so he joined the german IDM Superbike series.

Career statistics

Career highlights

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 ...

- 25th, European Superstock 600 Championship,

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 ...

- 16th, FIM Superstock 1000 Cup,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

- 15th, FIM Superstock 1000 Cup,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

- 4th, FIM Superstock 1000 Cup,

- 1st, FIM Superstock 1000 Cup,

Ducati 1098R The Ducati 1098 is a sport bike made by Ducati from 2007 to 2009, in three versions, the 1098, 1098S, and 1098R. The 1098 was succeeded by the 1198 in 2009, though the 1098R remained in production that year. The 1098 shares more design elements ...

- 2nd, FIM Superstock 1000 Cup,

Ducati 1199 Panigale The Ducati 1199 Panigale is a Ducati sport bike introduced at the 2011 Milan Motorcycle Show. The motorcycle is named after the small manufacturing town of Borgo Panigale. Ducati had announced a larger displacement 1299 Panigale for the 2015 m ...

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercado, Leandro 1992 births Living people Argentine motorcycle racers Superbike World Championship riders FIM Superstock 1000 Cup riders AMA Supersport Championship riders Sportspeople from Córdoba, Argentina