Virginio Ferrari (born 19 October 1952) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. His best season was in the 1979 500cc world championship, when he finished second to Kenny Roberts.[1]

Virginio Ferrari
Ferrari in 1979
NationalityItalian
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years1976 - 1989
First race1976 500cc Nations Grand Prix
Last race1989 250cc Czechoslovakian Grand Prix
First win1978 500cc West German Grand Prix
Last win1979 500cc Dutch TT
Team(s)Suzuki, Cagiva
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
54 2 10 1 3

Motorcycle racing career

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Ferrari teamed up with Benjamin Grau to win the 1975 1000 km du Mugello endurance race riding a Ducati.[2] He began the 1979 season with a string of podium results, finishing second to Barry Sheene at the Venezuelan Grand Prix and, second to Kenny Roberts in the Austrian Grand Prix. He continued to post good results with a third place in Germany and another second place behind Roberts in Italy. Ferrari dropped from the podium with a fourth place in Spain before bouncing back with another second place to Roberts in Yugoslavia. His victory at the Dutch TT in Assen together with an eighth-place finish by Roberts, vaulted Ferrari into the championship lead as the series headed towards Belgium.

Ferrari became embroiled in a controversy at the Belgian Grand Prix held at the Spa circuit when he, along with Roberts and other top riders refused to race due to unsafe track conditions.[3] The circuit had been paved just days before the race creating a track that many of the racers felt was unsafe due to diesel seeping to the surface.[3] Ferrari along with Roberts, instigated a riders' revolt and refused to race. The F.I.M. responded by suspending Roberts and Ferrari.[3] The F.I.M. later reduced this to a probation.

After the Belgian round, Ferrari suffered a series of disastrous results with a fifteenth place in Finland followed by an improved fourth place in Britain before a crash at the season-ending French Grand Prix handed the world championship to Roberts.

In 1986 Ferrari rode a Honda NSR250 in a team run by Takazumi Katayama in the World Championship without much success, with just four top 10 results, his best, a 6th place in Silverstone. He finished 14th in the Championship. Ferrari won the 1987 TT Formula 1 title aboard a Bimota YB4 EI.[4][5] His last Grand Prix season was in 1989, again in the 250 class, with the Italian made Gazzaniga, failing to score any points and finishing 28th in the Salzburgring and 27th in his last Grand Prix in Brno.

Ferrari was the first person on the scene on Kevin Wrettom's and Iván Palazzese's fatal accidents, in 1984 and 1989 respectively. He attempted to resuscitate them both, but Wrettom died several days later at the hospital, while Palazzese had unsurvivable chest injuries.[6][7]

After his Grand Prix career, Ferrari switched to the Superbike World Championship in 1988, riding for the Ducati factory racing team. He took over as the team manager until 1998, when Davide Tardozzi took the job. Ferrari briefly managed the Kawasaki PSG-1 team in the World Superbike Championship in 2007.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

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Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Points 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points Rank Wins
1976 500cc Suzuki FRA
-
AUT
-
NAT
3
IOM
-
NED
-
BEL
-
SWE
-
FIN
-
CZE
-
GER
NC
10 21st 0
1977 500cc Suzuki VEN
6
AUT
-
GER
-
NAT
2
FRA
8
NED
10
BEL
-
SWE
-
FIN
-
CZE
-
GBR
-
21 12th 0
1978 500cc Gallina-Suzuki VEN
-
ESP
-
AUT
-
FRA
-
NAT
-
NED
-
BEL
-
SWE
5
FIN
-
GBR
10
GER
1
22 11th 1
1979 500cc Gallina-Suzuki VEN
2
AUT
2
GER
3
NAT
2
ESP
4
YUG
2
NED
1
BEL
DNS
SWE
-
FIN
15
GBR
4
FRA
NC
89 2nd 1
1980 500cc Cagiva NAT
-
ESP
-
FRA
-
NED
-
BEL
-
FIN
-
GBR
-
GER
-
0 - 0
1981 500cc Cagiva AUT
-
GER
-
NAT
-
FRA
-
YUG
-
NED
-
BEL
-
RSM
-
GBR
-
FIN
-
SWE
-
0 - 0
1982 500cc HB-Suzuki ARG
-
AUT
-
FRA
-
ESP
-
NAT
-
NED
-
BEL
-
YUG
-
GBR
6
SWE
-
RSM
4
GER
2
25 11th 0
1983 500cc Cagiva RSA
15
FRA
NC
NAT
11
GER
NC
ESP
-
AUT
23
YUG
-
NED
-
BEL
-
GBR
NC
SWE
-
RSM
NC
0 - 0
1984 500cc Marlboro-Yamaha RSA
NC
NAT
8
ESP
-
AUT
14
GER
7
FRA
22
YUG
9
NED
NC
BEL
NC
GBR
4
SWE
6
RSM
NC
22 10th 0
1985 500cc Cagiva RSA
-
ESP
-
GER
-
NAT
-
AUT
-
YUG
-
NED
-
BEL
-
FRA
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
RSM
NC
0 - 0
1986 250cc Total-Honda ESP
-
NAT
-
GER
24
AUT
12
YUG
7
NED
NC
BEL
NC
FRA
9
GBR
6
SWE
NC
RSM
8
14 14th 0
1987 250cc Total-Honda JPN
NC
ESP
-
GER
-
NAT
-
AUT
-
YUG
-
NED
-
FRA
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
CZE
-
RSM
-
POR
-
BRA
-
ARG
-
0 - 0
1989 250cc Gazzaniga JPN
-
AUS
-
USA
-
ESP
-
NAT
-
GER
NC
AUT
28
YUG
-
NED
-
BEL
-
FRA
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
CZE
27
BRA
-
0 - 0

References

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Official Website

  1. ^ Virginio Ferrari career statistics at MotoGP.com
  2. ^ "1975 World Endurance Racing final standings". racingmemo.free.fr. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Roberts Suspended For Boycott". Modesto Bee. Modesto Bee. 2 July 1979. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 3, 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  4. ^ bimota corse – bimota racing
  5. ^ Italy Italian Motorcycles: Bimota
  6. ^ "Motorsport Memorial -". www.motorsportmemorial.org. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
  7. ^ "Motorsport Memorial -". www.motorsportmemorial.org. Retrieved 2023-12-20.
Sporting positions
Preceded by TT Formula One World Champion
1987
Succeeded by