Virginio Ferrari

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.

Motorcycle racing career Ferrari teamed up with Benjamin Grau to win the 1975 1000 km du Mugello endurance race riding a Ducati. 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. 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. 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.

After his Grand Prix career, Ferrari switched to the Superbike World Championship in , 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 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- NAT3 IOM- NED- BEL- SWE- FIN- TCH- GERNC 10 21st 0 1977 500cc Suzuki VEN6 AUT- GER- NAT2 FRA8 NED10 BEL- SWE- FIN- TCH- GBR- 21 12th 0 1978 500cc Gallina-Suzuki VEN- ESP- AUT- FRA- NAT- NED- BEL- SWE5 FIN- GBR10 GER1 22 11th 1 1979 500cc Gallina-Suzuki VEN2 AUT2 GER3 NAT2 ESP4 YUG2 NED1 BELDNS SWE- FIN15 GBR4 FRANC 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- GBR6 SWE- RSM4 GER2 25 11th 0 1983 500cc Cagiva RSA15 FRANC NAT11 GERNC ESP- AUT23 YUG- NED- BEL- GBRNC SWE- RSMNC 0 - 0 1984 500cc Marlboro-Yamaha RSANC NAT8 ESP- AUT14 GER7 FRA22 YUG9 NEDNC BELNC GBR4 SWE6 RSMNC 22 10th 0 1985 500cc Cagiva RSA- ESP- GER- NAT- AUT- YUG- NED- BEL- FRA- GBR- SWE- RSMNC 0 - 0 1986 250cc Total-Honda ESP- NAT- GER24 AUT12 YUG7 NEDNC BELNC FRA9 GBR6 SWENC RSM8 14 14th 0 1987 250cc Total-Honda JPNNC ESP- GER- NAT- AUT- YUG- NED- FRA- GBR- SWE- TCH- RSM- POR- BRA- ARG- 0 - 0 1989 250cc Gazzaniga JPN- AUS- USA- ESP- NAT- GERNC AUT28 YUG- NED- BEL- FRA- GBR- SWE- TCH27 BRA- 0 - 0