GoodbyeMrGresini
Remembering the brilliant Fausto
‘I love bikes too much not to continue…’
No need to wonderwhy Fausto Gresini dedicated his life to racing. He was born in Imola, within earshot of the eponymous track, in the heart of Italy’s MotorValley. His earliest years were played out to the four-stroke roar of Ducatis and MVAgustas, but by the time he started racing the soundtrack had changed to the shriek of two-strokes. Gresini rode his first race in 1978, on a 50cc Minarelli, built a few miles from the Ducati factory, a 30-minute ride from where he grew up. His engine seized in his first race and he crashed out of his second. From those unsteady beginnings came two world championships as a rider and four as a team owner. Indeed Gresini’s successes as a team boss eclipsed his riding career, during which he won the 1985 and 1987 125cc world titles, riding Garelli two-strokes. Gresini was the right size fora 125 and won 21 GPs in the smallest GP class between 1984 and 1992. He retired at the end of 1994 and was soon planning his first team.
“I love bikes too much to not continue,” he said. “And it’s better to be a young team owner instead of an old rider!”
Gresini started small, with a one-rider outfit in 1997, running Brazilian AlexBarros on a privateer Honda NSR500V.Over the next 15 years Gresini Racing grew into the biggest operation in the paddock, with riders in all three classes: MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3. That first deal with Honda started a long partnership with HRC, who in 2000 entrusted him with the youngster they hoped would become Japan’s first premier-class champ: Daijiro Kato. Kato’s rapier-sharp riding dominated the 2001 250cc world championship to give Gresini Racing their first world title. In 2002 HRC gave Gresini the task of taking Kato into MotoGP, aboard an NSR500 two-stroke. The following year he was equipped with an RC211V and was the man most likely to beat reigning champ Valentino Rossi. But it wasn’t to be. Kato died after crashing at the season-opening Japanese GP. Kato’s death hit Gresini hard and yet over the next few years his MotoGP team became Honda’s top outfit, his riders out-performing even the factory Repsol squad. In 2003 and 2004 Sete Gibernau finished second overall to Rossi and in 2005 Gibernau’s teammate Marco Melandri was runner-up. The first years of MotoGP’s 800cc era weren’t kind to Honda teams, but Gresini Racing got their mojo back in 2010 when they signed former250cc world champion Marco Simoncelli and had Toni Elias contest the inaugural Moto2 championship. Simoncelli was a rough diamond, but he was going places. Meanwhile Elias dominated Moto2 to take Gresini’s second title. The following year another tragedy – Simoncelli was killed at Sepang. This time Gresini came very close to going home for good. “I have much love for motorcycles, but now it’s difficult, it’s different, it’s not a big love anymore,” he said. Nevertheless Gresini Racing kept expanding, contesting all three classes for the first time in 2012, Moto3’s inaugural year. At the same time he also ran a team in the Italian championship. This is what happens when you are hopelessly addicted to motorcycle racing! In 2015 Gresini signed a deal with Aprilia to run the factory’s MotoGP effort. However, his mentoring of youngsters became the driving force. In 2013 Gresini Racing gave Franco Morbidelli his GP debut. In 2014 Enea Bastianini was Moto3 rookie of the year. In 2016 he brought Fabio Di Giannantonio into GPs. In 2017 Jorge Martin was top Moto3 rookie and the next yearwon the title. In 2019 Matteo Ferrari took the inaugural MotoE crown and last year Jeremy Alcoba was top Moto3 rookie. No other team boss had helped so many riders climb the MotoGP ladder. Gresini was hospitalised with Covid-19 on December 27. Despite two months in intensive care he lost his battle on February 23. MCNextends its condolences to his wife Nadia, their children Lorenzo, Luca, Alice and Agnese, to his loved ones and to his team.