Roberto Rolfo

Roberto 'Roby' Rolfo (born 23 March 1980) is an Italian former professional motorcycle road racer. He had his best season in 2003, when he finished in second place in the 250cc World Championship. Rolfo competed in the MotoGP 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. After finishing in third place in the European championship in 1997, Rolfo competed in his first full World Championship season in 1998. In his first season, his best result was fifth place in Argentina, and in 1999 it was again a fifth, at Catalunya. In 2000, he finished no higher than sixth.

2001 proved to be a breakthrough year. Riding for the Safilo Aprilia team, Rolfo finished fourth in the championship, ahead of the factory Aprilias Riccardo Chiarello 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 and third at Catalunya). He only failed to score points twice all season.

In 2002, Rolfo 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 2003, 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 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 2005, with the D'Antin Ducati 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, Rolfo 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) in the following five rounds, and ultimately finished 16th overall.

For , Rolfo joined the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team, alongside champion James Toseland. Rolfo managed a career-best fourth place at Monza and Silverstone and finished eighth overall, but was overshadowed by his teammate's championship win.

Rolfo 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, Rolfo 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) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 2006 Ducati QAT7 QAT13 AUS5 AUS7 SPARet SPA16 ITA8 ITA10 EUR17 EUR19 SMR15 SMR15 CZE12 CZE17 GBR18 GBR18 NED8 NED12 GERRet GER17 ITA14 ITA15 FRA14 FRA17 16th 69 2007 Honda QAT7 QATRet AUS11 AUS10 EUR9 EUR7 SPA10 SPA12 NED9 NED5 ITARet ITA4 GBR4 GBRC SMR5 SMR8 CZE5 CZE5 GBR6 GBR11 GER5 GER7 ITARet ITA5 FRA10 FRA7 8th 192 2008 Honda QAT11 QAT15 AUS10 AUS16 SPA10 SPA17 NED22 NED14 ITA ITA USA20 USA16 GER16 GER17 SMR17 SMR18 CZERet CZE12 GBR10 GBR14 EURRet EUR13 ITA8 ITA10 FRARet FRA10 POR12 POR18 17th 59 2009 Honda AUS13 AUS16 QATRet QATRet SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA RSA RSA USA USA SMR SMR GBR GBR CZE CZE GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA POR POR 39th 3 2011 Kawasaki AUS11 AUS12 EUR14 EUR15 NEDRet NED16 ITARet ITA13 USA17 USA16 SMRRet SMR12 SPA14 SPA13 CZE14 CZE11 GBR13 GBRRet GER14 GER13 ITA18 ITARet FRA13 FRARet POR POR 18th 42 2017 Kawasaki AUS AUS THA THA SPA SPA NED NED ITA ITA GBR GBR ITA ITA USA USA GER GER POR POR FRA FRA SPA SPA QAT13 QAT15 33rd 4

Supersport World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts MV Agusta AUSRet SPA9 NED6 ITA11 GBR3 PORRet ITA14 RUSC GBR6 GER15 TUR5 FRARet SPA3 6th 78 2014 Kawasaki AUS11 SPA12 NED6 ITA5 GBR10 MAL4 ITA10 POR9 SPA7 FRA3 QAT6 7th 97 2015 Honda AUS8 THA6 SPA10 NED5 ITA10 GBR11 POR8 ITA12 MAL6 SPA10 FRA11 QAT7 7th 88 2016 MV Agusta AUS9 THA18 SPARet NED22 ITA14 MAL12 GBR14 ITARet GER18 FRA16 SPARet QATRet 24th 15 2017 MV Agusta AUS1 THA11 SPA6 NED15 ITARet GBR14 ITA18 GER POR 12th 43 Honda FRARet SPA QAT 2019 Kawasaki AUS THA SPA NED ITA SPA ITA23 GBR POR FRA ARG QAT NC* 0* Season still in progress.