Fausto Gresini has enjoyed an illustrious career in motorsport as both a rider and team manager. Read on to find out more about his past glories.
During his career as a rider Fausto Gresini won two 125cc World Championship titles, in 1985 and 1987, on a Garelli, finishing runner-up in the 125cc class three times: in 1986 on a Garelli and in 1991 and 1992 on a Honda. He took 21 victories from 132 Grand Prix starts, 15 second places and 11 thirds and jointly holds the record for consecutive wins in the 125cc class with Angel Nieto, the pair tied on 11, which for Gresini were spread over the 1986 and ’87 seasons. Fausto alone holds the outright record for wins in a single season with ten in 1987.
The team manager
Team Gresini made its debut in the 500cc World Championship in 1997, with Alex Barros riding the Honda NSR V Twin. A podium for Alex and ninth place in the final championship standings convinced Honda to supply Fausto Gresini’s outfit with a factory NSR 500 for the following season. Over the next few years the team established itself as one of the best in the paddock and it now boasts a prestigious record, including the 250cc title with Daijiro Kato in 2001 and the runner-up position in the MotoGP World Championship on three occasions - with Sete Gibernau (2003 and 2004) and Marco Melandri (2005).
Gresini racing 1997/2011 - 15 years of championship challenges
"In 1997, after having enjoyed a satisfying career as a rider, I decided to make a change and take on a new adventure: creating an Italian team that would soon become a reference point in MotoGP."
"The first years were spent creating a strong team unit, then came the positive results in the 250cc class and after that the same kind of grit and determination led us into the biggest challenge to date, the elite MotoGP class, where we have the prestige of 14 wins under our belts."
"Over the years we have had to overcome some difficult times like with the death of Daijiro Kato, but in his honour we continued our challenge in the premier class. Today, in effect, we are one of the top outfits and the ‘independent team’ with the largest number of wins amongst those not directly linked to a factory. With this vast experience and the same desire to compete we look forward to our fifteenth championship season."
"In the racing world, things can change very quickly. After a difficult 2008, and a 2009 which brought us a podium finish for Toni Elias at Brno and second place for Alex de Angelis at Indianapolis, in 2010 Team Gresini presented an entirely Italian squad with Melandri and Simoncelli. It was a lean year in terms of results but towards the end of the season Simoncelli made some top performances and just missed out on the podium in Portugal by only 56 hundredths of a second. 2010 was more about the success in the brand new world championship class, Moto2. Team Gresini Racing was there at the start with Spaniard Toni Elias and Russian Vladimir Ivanov on board the Moriwaki MD600, and dominated the season. Elias was crowned World Champion as he won seven races and clinched the title three races before the end in Malaysia. It was another important success on Gresini Racing’s honours list."
“This year the team takes on another double commitment, in MotoGP with a revved up Marco Simoncelli and the 2009 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama, and in Moto2, with Yuki Takahashi and Italian Michele Pirro on the Moriwaki."