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 2009.

Roberto Rolfo
Rolfo in 2005.
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1980-03-23) 23 March 1980 Turin, Italy
Current team	Grillini Racing Team
Bike number	44
Website	robyrolfo.eu
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2005, 2012 Manufacturers Ducati, ART Championships 0 2012 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 21 0 0 0 0 25 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2010, 2012, 2014 Manufacturers Suter Championships 0 2014 championship position 29th (2 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 30 1 2 0 0 78 250cc World Championship Active years 1996, 1998–2004 Manufacturers Aprilia, TSR-Honda, Honda Championships 0 2004 championship position 8th (116 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 102 3 18 0 3 896 Superbike World Championship Active years 2006–2009, 2011, 2017 Manufacturers Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki Championships 0 2017 championship position 33rd (4 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 105 0 0 0 0 369 Supersport World Championship Active years 2013–2017 Manufacturers MV Agusta, Kawasaki, Honda 2017 championship position 12th (43 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 55 1 4 0 0 321

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, he 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 3rd at Catalunya). He only failed to score points twice all season.

In 2002 he 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, Roberto switched to the Superbike World Championship for 2006. 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 2007 he joined the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team, alongside 2004 champion James Toseland. Rolfo managed a career-best fourth place at Monza and Silverstone and finished 8th overall, but was overshadowed by his teammate's championship win.

He was not retained by Ten Kate Honda for 2008 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, he 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

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
1996	250cc	Aprilia	Team Italia	2	0	0	0	0	0	NC
1998	250cc	TSR-Honda	Scuderia Carrizosa	14	0	0	0	0	61	12th
1999	250cc	Aprilia	Vasco Rossi Racing	13	0	0	0	0	62	14th
2000	250cc	TSR-Honda	Tino Villa Racing	4	0	0	0	0	26	16th
		Aprilia	Racing Factory	6	0	0	0	0
2001	250cc	Aprilia	Safilo Oxydo Race	16	0	4	0	0	177	4th
2002	250cc	Honda	Fortuna Honda Gresini	16	0	7	0	2	219	3rd
2003	250cc	Honda	Fortuna Honda	16	2	6	0	0	235	2nd
2004	250cc	Honda	Fortuna Honda	15	1	1	0	1	116	8th
2005	MotoGP	Ducati	Team d’Antin Pramac	17	0	0	0	0	25	18th
2010	Moto2	Suter	Italtrans S.T.R.	17	1	2	0	0	75	14th
2012	Moto2	Suter	Technomag-CIP	11	0	0	0	0	1	30th
	MotoGP	ART	Speed Master	4	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2014	Moto2	Suter	Tasca Racing Moto2	2	0	0	0	0	2	29th
Total				153	4	20	0	3	999

By class

Class	Season	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
250cc	1996, 1998–2004	1996 Italy	2001 Italy	2003 Germany	102	3	18	0	3	896	0
Moto2	2010, 2012, 2014	2010 Qatar	2010 Germany	2010 Malaysia	30	1	2	0	0	78	0
MotoGP	2005, 2012	2005 Qatar			21	0	0	0	0	25	0
Total	1996, 1998–2005, 2010, 2012, 2014				153	4	20	0	3	999	0

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	18	Pos.	Pts
1996	250cc	Aprilia	MAL	INA	JPN	SPA	ITA 27	FRA	NED	GER	GBR	AUT	CZE	IMO 22	CAT	BRA	AUS				NC	0
1998	250cc	TSR-Honda	JPN Ret	MAL 12	SPA 13	ITA Ret	FRA 14	MAD 10	NED 10	GBR 12	GER 11	CZE 15	IMO 8	CAT 8	AUS 13	ARG 5					12th	61
1999	250cc	Aprilia	MAL 10	JPN 12	SPA 9	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 5	NED Ret	GBR	GER 12	CZE 11	IMO 10	VAL 13	AUS DNS	RSA	BRA 9	ARG 7			14th	62
2000	250cc	TSR-Honda	RSA 15	MAL 14	JPN Ret	SPA 19	FRA	ITA													16th	26
		Aprilia							CAT Ret	NED 9	GBR Ret	GER 6	CZE	POR	VAL	BRA	PAC Ret	AUS 10
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 5	RSA 8	SPA 7	FRA 9	ITA 2	CAT 3	NED Ret	GBR 2	GER 4	CZE 5	POR 4	VAL 8	PAC 5	AUS 3	MAL 10	BRA 8			4th	177
2002	250cc	Honda	JPN 8	RSA 4	SPA 2	FRA 5	ITA 8	CAT 2	NED 3	GBR 5	GER 2	CZE Ret	POR 4	BRA 2	PAC 6	MAL 3	AUS 4	VAL 2			3rd	219
2003	250cc	Honda	JPN 7	RSA 5	SPA 2	FRA 3	ITA 4	CAT 9	NED 6	GBR 5	GER 1	CZE 4	POR 4	BRA 2	PAC 2	MAL 4	AUS 1	VAL 7			2nd	235
2004	250cc	Honda	RSA 9	SPA 1	FRA Ret	ITA 7	CAT Ret	NED 9	BRA 7	GER 6	GBR DNS	CZE 6	POR 10	JPN 7	QAT 7	MAL Ret	AUS 10	VAL 7			8th	116
2005	MotoGP	Ducati	SPA 15	POR 13	CHN 16	FRA 15	ITA 17	CAT 14	NED 18	USA Ret	GBR 10	GER 14	CZE 17	JPN Ret	MAL 13	QAT 12	AUS 13	TUR 16	VAL Ret		18th	25
2010	Moto2	Suter	QAT 5	SPA 12	FRA 10	ITA 18	GBR 24	NED Ret	CAT Ret	GER 3	CZE Ret	INP 25	RSM 10	ARA 19	JPN 9	MAL 1	AUS 26	POR Ret	VAL 25		14th	75
2012	Moto2	Suter	QAT Ret	SPA 25	POR 21	FRA 15	CAT Ret	GBR 16	NED 19	GER 20	ITA Ret		INP Ret	CZE 19	RSM	ARA					30th	1
	MotoGP	ART										USA					JPN 16	MAL DSQ	AUS Ret	VAL Ret	NC	0
2014	Moto2	Suter	QAT	AME	ARG	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	INP	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL 14	VAL 20	29th	2

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		Pos.	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	QAT 7	QAT 13	AUS 5	AUS 7	SPA Ret	SPA 16	ITA 8	ITA 10	EUR 17	EUR 19	SMR 15	SMR 15	CZE 12	CZE 17	GBR 18	GBR 18	NED 8	NED 12	GER Ret	GER 17	ITA 14	ITA 15	FRA 14	FRA 17					16th	69
2007	Honda	QAT 7	QAT Ret	AUS 11	AUS 10	EUR 9	EUR 7	SPA 10	SPA 12	NED 9	NED 5	ITA Ret	ITA 4	GBR 4	GBR C	SMR 5	SMR 8	CZE 5	CZE 5	GBR 6	GBR 11	GER 5	GER 7	ITA Ret	ITA 5	FRA 10	FRA 7			8th	192
2008	Honda	QAT 11	QAT 15	AUS 10	AUS 16	SPA 10	SPA 17	NED 22	NED 14	ITA	ITA	USA 20	USA 16	GER 16	GER 17	SMR 17	SMR 18	CZE Ret	CZE 12	GBR 10	GBR 14	EUR Ret	EUR 13	ITA 8	ITA 10	FRA Ret	FRA 10	POR 12	POR 18	17th	59
2009	Honda	AUS 13	AUS 16	QAT Ret	QAT Ret	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	AUS 11	AUS 12	EUR 14	EUR 15	NED Ret	NED 16	ITA Ret	ITA 13	USA 17	USA 16	SMR Ret	SMR 12	SPA 14	SPA 13	CZE 14	CZE 11	GBR 13	GBR Ret	GER 14	GER 13	ITA 18	ITA Ret	FRA 13	FRA Ret	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	QAT 13	QAT 15			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	Pos.	Pts
2013	MV Agusta	AUS Ret	SPA 9	NED 6	ITA 11	GBR 3	POR Ret	ITA 14	RUS C	GBR 6	GER 15	TUR 5	FRA Ret	SPA 3	6th	78
2014	Kawasaki	AUS 11	SPA 12	NED 6	ITA 5	GBR 10	MAL 4	ITA 10	POR 9	SPA 7	FRA 3	QAT 6			7th	97
2015	Honda	AUS 8	THA 6	SPA 10	NED 5	ITA 10	GBR 11	POR 8	ITA 12	MAL 6	SPA 10	FRA 11	QAT 7		7th	88
2016	MV Agusta	AUS 9	THA 18	SPA Ret	NED 22	ITA 14	MAL 12	GBR 14	ITA Ret	GER 18	FRA 16	SPA Ret	QAT Ret		24th	15
2017	MV Agusta	AUS 1	THA 11	SPA 6	NED 15	ITA Ret	GBR 14	ITA 18	GER	POR					12th	43
	Honda										FRA Ret	SPA	QAT
2019	Kawasaki	AUS	THA	SPA	NED	ITA	SPA	ITA 23	GBR	POR	FRA	ARG	QAT		NC*	0*

 * Season still in progress.

External links

• Roberto Rolfo at MotoGP.com
• Roberto Rolfo at WorldSBK.com
• Roberto Rolfo at the CONI honored athlete website (in Italian)
• Official website (in Italian)