Roberto 'Roby' Rolfo (born 23 March 1980) is an Italian former professional motorcycle

road racer Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

. He had his best season in

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, when he finished in second place in the 250cc World Championship. Rolfo competed in the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

class for one year before he switched to the Superbike World Championship, where he remained up to the start of .

Career

Rolfo was born in Turin, Italy.

250cc World Championship

Rolfo began competing in the Grand Prix series with a few wildcard entries in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. After finishing in third place in the European championship in 1997, Rolfo competed in his first full World Championship season in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

. In his first season his best result was fifth place in Argentina, and in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

it was again a fifth, at Catalunya. In

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he finished no higher than sixth.

2001 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, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

proved to be a breakthrough year. Riding for the Safilo

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

team, he finished fourth in the championship, ahead of the factory Aprilias

Riccardo Chiarello Riccardo Chiarello (born 9 October 1993) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for side Cesena. Club career Chiarello was born in Arzignano, he started playing football at Chievo youth team. He made his fourth-tier debut in Trissi ...

and Jeremy McWilliams. After scoring points in the first four races, he scored three podiums in the next four (second at Mugello and

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

and 3rd at Catalunya). He only failed to score points twice all season. In

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

he raced for the Fortuna- Honda Gresini team. He scored five second places, three of them behind countryman and champion Marco Melandri. He only failed to score points once, earning him third place overall in the world championship. Following Fausto Gresini's decision to concentrate in MotoGP class in

, Rolfo switched to a team run by Daniel Amatrian, albeit main sponsor Fortuna remains. He went better both in terms of race results and championship finish. He was victorious at Sachsenring and Phillip Island en route to finishing the season in second overall. He went into the final race knowing that victory would give him the title unless Manuel Poggiali finished second, but he was down in seventh. He did beat the series' winningest rider that year, Toni Elías, into third overall however.

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

was not a success by these standards. Rolfo won in Spain, but was not on the podium again, finishing only eighth overall.

MotoGP

After making no advance in 2004, Rolfo moved up to MotoGP for

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, with the D'Antin

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

team. Running year-old machinery, on Dunlop tyres which were perceived to be inferior and which the bike was not designed around, and with no teammate, decent results were always going to be hard to come by. He scored points in nine races, with a best of tenth, to finish 18th overall in the championship.

Superbike World Championship

With no ride available in MotoGP, Roberto switched to the Superbike World Championship for . He raced for Caracchi Ducati team on a privateer bike. He started strongly, with a fifth place and two seventh places in the first four races, but only managed two top ten finishes (both at

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

) in the following five rounds, and ultimately finished 16th overall. For he joined the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team, alongside champion James Toseland. Rolfo managed a career-best fourth place at Monza and

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

and finished 8th overall, but was overshadowed by his teammate's championship win. He was not retained by Ten Kate Honda for and signed for Althea Honda, taking Hannspree sponsorship with him. He missed the Monza round due to injury. Axed for 2009, he scored a second-row grid position at contract time at Magny-Cours. He was also quick in the rain at Donington before a rash attempt at overtaking Leon Haslam eliminated him and took Haslam out of contention. For 2009, he joined the new-to-WSBK Stiggy Racing Honda team, alongside Haslam, but lost the seat following the Qatar round of the season to John Hopkins.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

Races by year

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(

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

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rolfo, Roberto 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Turin Italian motorcycle racers 250cc World Championship riders Pramac Racing MotoGP riders Superbike World Championship riders Moto2 World Championship riders Supersport World Championship riders MotoGP World Championship riders