Régis Laconi (born 8 July 1975 in

Saint-Dizier Saint-Dizier () is a subprefecture Of the Haute-Marne department in north-eastern France. It has a population of 23,382 (2018 figure) and is a subprefecture of the department. Although Saint-Dizier is marginally the most populous commune in Hau ...

Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.motorcycle racer. In he competed in the Superbike World Championship for DFX on a

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 A ...

. He was runner-up in , and has won races in both

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

500cc 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 ...

engine capacity classification and the Superbike World Championship.

Early career

Laconi has a French mother and Italian father. He started racing in 1991 in the French 125cc championship. He won this title in 1992, the French

250cc 5 (five) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typ ...

title a year later, and the European 250cc champion in 1994. For 1995 he went to the 250cc World Championship, but was never a front-runner in his two seasons there.

500cc

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

was his first season on a

Grand Prix bike, but his

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, ...

season was marred by injury, missing four rounds after being run over twice in a first-turn incident at the A1 Ring. With

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backing he returned for

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 s ...

, riding a Yamaha for three years. He finished 10th, 11th and 12th in the series in this time, but won at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

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 s ...

Superbike World Championship

For he was a factory

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. ...

WSBK rider. He led the first lap of the season, but struggled for much of the season on circuits he did not know. Until the final round at

Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla 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 r ...

his best result was a 4th, but he benefitted from knowing this circuit (which, like himself, was new to WSBK after being familiar in 500cc). He qualified 2nd, and won the second race, after running strongly in race 1 before being taken out by a fall for champion

Troy Bayliss Troy Bayliss (born 30 March 1969 in Taree, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian motorcycle racer. During his career Bayliss won the Superbike World Championship three times and a MotoGP race, all with Ducati. He finished his career afte ...

. A move to

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 of ...

for 2002 was not successful, with a best result of 8th, so for he returned to WSBK for the Caracchi

team, doing enough to earn a factory ride for by taking 5 podium finishes, finishing 4th in a relatively weakened championship. He and team-mate James Toseland were clear favourites for the title, which Toseland took at the final round of the season, in spite of Régis taking 5 poles and 7 wins, and having what is seen as the stronger team of mechanics. His season was interrupted by injury, and for he switched to

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. He finished the season behind his two team-mates in the championship, taking 15th place, with Chris Walker in 9th and Fonsi Nieto in 10th. He remained with the team for and finished 10th overall. He continues with the same team for . At Misano the team ran in a localised

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livery, but unfortunately both he and team-mate

Makoto Tamada (born November 4, 1976 in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan) is a former Japanese professional motorcycle racer currently working as a rider instructor in Suzuka Racing School. He is one of the few riders to win races in both MotoGP and Supe ...

crashed in race 1, forcing Laconi to run race 2 in the conventional green Kawasaki livery. Regis Laconi SBK Assen 2009

For 2009 Laconi switched to private Ducatis, riding the sole DFX machine. Results were strong early in the season, however he was seriously injured when he crashed heavily during the opening moments of the first practice of the Kyalami round of the World Superbike Championship. As of 20 May 2009 it was reported that Laconi awakened from his medically induced coma and is reported to have full movement in his arms, hands and legs. Laconi has undergone surgery to clasp his cervical vertebrae back together and it is expected he will remain immobile for some time. Laconi returned for an exploratory test for the DFX Corse Ducati Team at Misano in June 2010 following his horrific crash at Kyalami in 2009. Regis had been training on his bicycle and after more than 70 laps with a best time of 1'37"800, he proved that his talent is still intact. But any thoughts of returning to racing for the moment are premature and totally groundless.The friendship that ties Regis to team manager Daniele Carli enabled the test to take place.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

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

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

References

External links

*
sportnetwork.net
Rider profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Laconi, Regis 1975 births Living people People from Saint-Dizier French people of Italian descent French motorcycle racers MotoGP World Championship riders Superbike World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders 250cc World Championship riders Sportspeople from Haute-Marne