Manuel Poggiali

Manuel Poggiali (; born 14 February 1983) is a Sammarinese Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion. He was the 2001 125cc World Champion, and the 2003 250cc World Champion. He scored 12 race wins, 11 pole positions, and 35 podium finishes.

Career Poggiali began racing Minibikes in 1994, and made his first Grand Prix starts in 1998, also winning the Italian 125cc Championship that year. He went into the 125cc World Championship full-time in 1999, and showed promise over the next two years, scoring a first podium at Assen in 2000. In 2001 he improved to win the title on a Gilera. He remained in the class in 2002, scoring seven podiums in the first eight races but failing to defend his title, losing out to Arnaud Vincent.

For 2003, Poggiali moved up to 250s, and followed Freddie Spencer and Tetsuya Harada in winning the title at his first attempt, including victories in the season's first two races. He had a disappointing 2004 however, finishing only 9th overall with just three podium results.

For 2005, Poggiali returned to 125s, again looking like a shadow of his former self, failing to take a single podium. In 2006, he raced in the 250cc class for the KTM team, but they did not renew his contract for 2007. Although he received some offers from 125cc, 250cc, and Superbike teams, he decided to refuse the offers and take a sabbatical, hoping to get better offers in 2008. He made his return to racing after announcing that he would ride for Campetella Racing alongside Fabrizio Lai. He decided to retire midseason after losing enthusiasm.

Poggiali is also a footballer, he played some matches over the last years for Pennarossa, a football club of San Marino.

For 2013, Poggiali returned to motorcycle racing and rode in the Italian Superbike Championship for Scuderia Corse Team Grandi aboard a Ducati 1199 Panigale. He finished the season in 14th overall with a second-place finish in the penultimate race of the year at Mugello being his best finish. For 2014, he signed to ride for the Barni Racing Team aboard a Ducati 1199 Panigale in the CIV Superbike Championship and finished 11th overall.

Career statistics Source:

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Pos Pts 1999 125cc Aprilia MAL12 JPN18 ESP9 FRARet ITA13 CATRet NED13 GBRRet GER11 CZE IMO8 VALRet AUS9 RSARet BRA7 ARGRet 17th 46 2000 125cc Aprilia RSA MAL JPN ESP9 FRA8 ITARet CATRet NED3 GBRRet GERRet CZE12 PORRet VAL14 BRARet PAC11 AUS5 16th 53 2001 125cc Gilera JPN5 RSA2 ESPRet FRA1 ITA3 CAT3 NEDRet GBR3 GER3 CZERet POR1 VAL1 PAC2 AUS2 MAL2 BRA5 1st 241 2002 125cc Gilera JPN3 RSA1 ESPDSQ FRA2 ITA1 CAT1 NED2 GBR3 GER4 CZE5 PORRet BRA3 PAC2 MAL4 AUS1 VAL7 2nd 254 2003 250cc Aprilia JPN1 RSA1 ESP4 FRARet ITA1 CATRet NED4 GBR2 GER8 CZE3 POR2 BRA1 PAC3 MAL2 AUS9 VAL3 1st 249 2004 250cc Aprilia RSA4 ESPRet FRARet ITA3 CATRet NED7 BRA1 GERRet GBRRet CZE9 POR7 JPN17 QAT MAL AUS3 VALRet 9th 95 2005 125cc Gilera ESP6 POR5 CHN12 FRA10 ITA6 CAT6 NED8 GBR25 GER11 CZE8 JPN6 MAL8 QAT7 AUS13 TUR11 VALRet 10th 107 2006 250cc KTM ESP11 QAT14 TUR15 CHN11 FRA17 ITA12 CAT11 NED10 GBRRet GER13 CZERet MAL11 AUS13 JPN12 POR12 VAL8 14th 50 2008 250cc Gilera QAT14 ESPRet POR17 CHNRet FRA6 ITARet CAT14 GBR14 NEDRet GERRet CZEDNS RSM INP JPN AUS MAL VAL 19th 16