Mike Di Meglio

Mike Di Meglio

Di Meglio at the 2010 British Grand Prix
Nationality  French
Born (1988-01-17) 17 January 1988[1]
Toulouse (France)
Current team Aprilia MotoGP Test Team
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years20142015
ManufacturersAvintia, Ducati
Championships0
2015 championship position24th (8 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
36 0 0 0 0 17
Moto2 World Championship
Active years20102013
ManufacturersRSV, Suter, Tech 3, Speed Up, MZ-RE Honda, Kalex, Motobi
Championships0
2013 championship position20th (19 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
59 0 0 0 0 100
250cc World Championship
Active years2009
ManufacturersAprilia
Championships0
2009 championship position8th (107 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
16 0 2 1 0 107
125cc World Championship
Active years20032008
ManufacturersHonda, Aprilia, Derbi
Championships1 (2008)
2008 championship position1st (264 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
91 5 11 2 4 464

Mike Di Meglio (born 17 January 1988) is a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and 2008 world champion[2] in the 125cc class. Of Italian descent, his paternal grandfather was born in Lentini (Province of Siracusa).

Di Meglio first came to the attention of the Fédération Française de Motocyclisme (French Motorcycle Federation) 2002 Prix de l'Avenir. He also took a trial with the Liegois team in Carole, with whom he took part in a Spanish Championship race. Later he raced at world championship level in 2003

Biography

Di Meglio was born in Toulouse.

2003, Debut with Aprilia, switch to Honda later

When Di Meglio turned 15 years old, he decided to accept offers by the Italian Freesoul Racing Team on Aprilia to debut in the 125cc world championship in 2003. Although he managed to score points, including 13th place at Catalunya, it was a difficult season for him, crashing often and not achieving good results. Later, at the mid-season, he was offered by the Italian MetaSystem Rg Service to replace Italian veteran Andrea Ballerini, but this time the team was on Honda, he tried to attempt to achieve his goals, but he failed to improve and didn't score any championship points.

2004, Ride with Globet.com, first front-row start and first top five finish

After a disappointing 2003, Di Meglio vowed to salvage a wrecked debut. He signed with Globet.com Racing on Aprilia alongside Gino Borsoi for the 2004 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. The start was promising with a front-row start and a fifth-place finish at South Africa, but he failed to be consistent due to several crashes.

2005, Ride with Team Scot, first podium and first win

Di Meglio stayed with the same team for 2005, but his team joined forces with Team Scot which runs on Honda machinery, the same team that helped Andrea Dovizioso win the 2004 125cc World Championship. Di Meglio was their official rider on board on a factory Honda RS125RW along with Fabrizio Lai but it was under the Kopron Racing World name. His performance improved, scoring points regularly. He performed heroically at the French Grand Prix by fighting for a podium position, finishing fourth and making his home fans happy and entertained. However, it was his podium finish in the wet British Grand Prix by finishing second place behind Julián Simón, which gave him a reputation as a wet weather expert. He also finished a credible fourth place in the hot Qatar Grand Prix ahead of future 125cc champion Thomas Luthi. The high point of the season for the Frenchman was his controversial win at the Turkish Grand Prix, when Mika Kallio crashed and race leader Luthi had run wide to avoid him.

2006, Ride with FFM Honda GP 125cc. Disaster strikes

He joined the Fédération Française de Motocyclisme's world championship team run by Alain Bronec for 2006. The FFM Honda GP 125 team also provided him with a factory bike just like the previous season, but despite his big ambitions & a factory bike, he suffered an injury, & a huge blow, just scoring only four races that resulted into eight points only. He left the team immediately for Team Scot the following year after Portugal as the result of his performance with the team.

2007, Return to Team Scot. Master of wet races

For 2007, Di Meglio returned to Team Scot, the team that had helped him win his first Grand Prix in 2005. He was teamed with the young Italian Stefano Musco. In the first few races, he managed to score championship points. He had a very bad crash during the qualifying session of the Spanish Grand Prix, breaking his collarbone and was forced to miss the Turkish Grand Prix as a result. He returned in China to a fourteenth-place finish and followed that with a ninth place at Le Mans. A front row start at Mugello did not come to much either as he crashed out on the third lap of the race. After this, several disappointing race results followed except in the wet race at Donington, where he finished in sixth place and in Japan, where he finished fourth despite crashing out of second place while chasing race leader Mattia Pasini.

2008, Ride with Ajo Motorsport and maiden world title

For 2008, he was offered to ride with the Finnish Ajo Motorsport, teamed with Dominique Aegerter. He returned to Aprilia machines, but officially rides for Aprilia's sister Piaggio company, Derbi. He is riding the Derbi RSA 125 factory bike. His campaign started slowly within Qatar finishing in fourth, beaten to the podium at the line by Stefan Bradl. In Spain and Portugal, Di Meglio picked up minor points and trailed title contender Simone Corsi, but starting in China, Corsi's pace started to slip away including a crash from a minor incident with Lorenzo Zanetti and reigning world champion Gábor Talmácsi struggling that allow Di Meglio to take full advantage. A win in the shortened French Grand Prix started a consistent run lasting until at San Marino where he crashed out while fighting for third place with Corsi. At the Australian Grand Prix, Di Meglio became the only second Frenchman to win the world championship after Arnaud Vincent.

2009, Move to 250cc Class with Mapfre Aspar Team

For 2009, he moved up to the 250cc class with the Aspar Racing Team, alongside Álvaro Bautista. In his debut race in Qatar he qualified third but dropped to 11th on lap 1, before fighting back. He ran fifth in the later stages, but aggressively passed Bautista on the final lap before passing Raffaele de Rosa for third. He did not take another top five finish until round ten at Donington, but hit form from this point on. He took pole at Indianapolis, and claimed second place at Estoril in a photo-finish with Héctor Barberá. He was fighting for top rookie honours with de Rosa but lost out to him as a result of crashing out in Valencia while de Rosa finished third.

2010, Ride in Moto2 still with Mapfre Aspar Team

The 2010 saw the debut of the Moto2 class as the new intermediate class of Grand Prix racing, replacing the 250cc class. Di Meglio failed to take full advantage of it, with several poor race finishes in the first three races of the season and a crash at Mugello. Di Meglio took his first points-scoring finishes at British and Dutch rounds with seventh & eighth respectively. Despite his good results at those rounds, he failed to be competitive again until Australia where he finished in sixth place, having started on the front row.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career

By class

Class Seasons 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Podiums Pole FLap Pts WChmp
125 cc 2003–2008 2003 Japan 2005 Great Britain 2005 Turkey 91 5 11 2 4 464 1
250 cc 2009 2009 Qatar 2009 Qatar 16 0 2 1 0 107 0
Moto2 2010–2013 2010 Qatar 59 0 0 0 0 100 0
MotoGP 2014–2015 2014 Qatar 36 0 0 0 0 17 0
Total 2003–Present 202 5 13 3 4 688

By seasons and teams

Season Class Team Moto Races Wins Podiums Poles Fastest Laps Pts Position
2003 125cc Italy Freesoul Racing Team Aprilia 10 0 0 0 0 5 28th
Italy MetaSystem Rg Service Honda 5 0 0 0 0 0
2004 125cc Italy Globet. com Racing Aprilia 14 0 0 0 0 41 18th
2005 125cc Italy Kopron Racing World Honda 16 1 2 0 0 104 11th
2006 125cc France FFM Honda GP 125 Honda 14 0 0 0 0 8 25th
2007 125cc Italy Kopron Team Scot Honda 15 0 0 0 0 42 17th
2008 125cc Finland Ajo Motorsport Derbi 17 4 9 2 4 264 1st
2009 250cc Spain Mapfre Aspar team Aprilia 16 0 2 1 0 107 8th
2010 Moto2 Spain Bancaja Aspar Racing Team RSV 16 0 0 0 0 34 20th
Suter
2011 Moto2 France Tech 3 Tech 3 17 0 0 0 0 30 23rd
2012 Moto2 Italy Speed Master Speed Up Speed Up 16 0 0 0 0 17 22nd
Germany Cresto Guide MZ Racing Team MZ-RE Honda
Germany Kiefer Racing Kalex
2013 Moto2 Monaco JiR Motobi 10 0 0 0 0 19 20th
2014 MotoGP Spain Avintia Racing Avintia 18 0 0 0 0 9 25th
2015 MotoGP Spain Avintia Racing Ducati 18 0 0 0 0 8 24th
Total 202 5 13 3 4 688

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
2003 125cc Aprilia JPN
22
RSA
22
SPA
28
FRA
17
ITA
Ret
CAT
13
NED
19
GBR
15
GER
Ret
CZE
15
POR 28th 5
Honda BRA
Ret
PAC
Ret
MAL
22
AUS
Ret
VAL
Ret
2004 125cc Aprilia RSA
5
SPA
Ret
FRA
Ret
ITA
Ret
CAT
8
NED
12
BRA
12
GER
Ret
GBR
15
CZE
24
POR
11
JPN
Ret
QAT MAL
17
AUS
8
VAL 18th 41
2005 125cc Honda SPA
11
POR
11
CHN
20
FRA
4
ITA
Ret
CAT
16
NED
14
GBR
2
GER
Ret
CZE
7
JPN
11
MAL
11
QAT
4
AUS
14
TUR
1
VAL
Ret
11th 104
2006 125cc Honda SPA
21
QAT
Ret
TUR
Ret
CHN
15
FRA
27
ITA
Ret
CAT
18
NED
13
GBR
16
GER CZE
13
MAL
Ret
AUS
15
JPN
Ret
POR
Ret
VAL 25th 8
2007 125cc Honda QAT
14
SPA TUR CHN
14
FRA
9
ITA
Ret
CAT
19
GBR
6
NED
Ret
GER
15
CZE
20
RSM
13
POR
16
JPN
4
AUS
14
MAL
14
VAL
23
17th 42
2008 125cc Derbi QAT
4
SPA
9
POR
7
CHN
2
FRA
1
ITA
4
CAT
1
GBR
2
NED
7
GER
1
CZE
2
RSM
Ret
IND
10
JPN
2
AUS
1
MAL
5
VAL
3
1st 264
2009 250cc Aprilia QAT
3
JPN
Ret
SPA
11
FRA
Ret
ITA
12
CAT
14
NED
11
GER
Ret
GBR
5
CZE
9
IND
4
RSM
5
POR
2
AUS
5
MAL
Ret
VAL
14
8th 107
2010 Moto2 RSV QAT
16
SPA
22
20th 34
Suter FRA
20
ITA
Ret
GBR
7
NED
8
CAT
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
20
IND
12
RSM
Ret
ARA
13
JPN
18
MAL
26
AUS
6
POR
DNQ
VAL
26
2011 Moto2 Tech 3 QAT
19
SPA
26
POR
9
FRA
Ret
CAT
Ret
GBR
17
NED
Ret
ITA
24
GER
16
CZE
15
IND
27
RSM
16
ARA
12
JPN
27
AUS
9
MAL
14
VAL
7
23rd 30
2012 Moto2 Speed Up QAT
7
SPA
Ret
POR
Ret
FRA
Ret
CAT
Ret
GBR
18
NED
15
GER 22nd 17
MZ-RE Honda ITA
22
IND
24
CZE
16
Kalex RSM
18
ARA
13
JPN
14
MAL
Ret
AUS
14
VAL
28
2013 Moto2 Motobi QAT
16
AME
10
SPA
19
FRA
7
ITA
18
CAT
12
NED
Ret
GER
24
IND
20
CZE
Ret
GBR RSM ARA MAL AUS JPN VAL 20th 19
2014 MotoGP Avintia QAT
17
AME
18
ARG
19
SPA
Ret
FRA
19
ITA
18
CAT
Ret
NED
20
GER
22
IND
12
CZE
18
GBR
20
RSM
Ret
ARA
17
JPN
19
AUS
14
MAL
13
VAL
21
25th 9
2015 MotoGP Ducati QAT
19
AME
Ret
ARG
18
SPA
22
FRA
Ret
ITA
16
CAT
14
NED
18
GER
Ret
IND
17
CZE
18
GBR
14
RSM
13
ARA
20
JPN
15
AUS
20
MAL
18
VAL
Ret
24th 8

References

External links

Preceded by
Gábor Talmácsi
125 cc Motorcycle World Champion
2008
Succeeded by
Julián Simón
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