Vittoriano Guareschi (born 19 June 1971) is an Italian former professional motorcycle racer and racing team manager. He competed in the Supersport World Championship from 1996 to 1998 and in the Superbike World Championship from 1999 to 2000. After his racing career, Guareschi helped Ducati develop their new MotoGP entry as a test rider before becoming the team manager of the Ducati MotoGP team.
Career Guareschi was born in Parma, Italy as the son of a Parmesan Moto Guzzi distributor. He began his racing career in 1988 at the age of 17. He raced for the Cagiva factory racing team in the 125 cc Italian national championship alongside his teammate and future world champion, Valentino Rossi.MCN Sport, Winter 2010, p. 28, Bauer Automotive, Petersborough, Cambs. Guareschi progressed to the 600 cc Italian national championship where, he finished in third place in three consecutive seasons between 1992 and 1994. In 1995, he won the Italian Supermono national championship for single-cylinder motorcycles aboard a Yamaha SZR660.
Guareschi made his international racing debut in 1996, competing in the European Supersport Championship for the Italian Belgarda-Yamaha team. He secured three podium results and finished in fifth place in the championship. In 1997, he competed in the Supersport World Championship, winning three races and narrowly losing the championship by one point to Ducati rider Paolo Casoli. He repeated as runner-up in the 1998 Supersport World Championship, this time to Suzuki rider, Fabrizio Pirovano.
In 1999, Guareschi and the Belgarda-Yamaha team fielded a Yamaha YZF-R7 in the Superbike World Championship, where he secured one podium result with a third place at the A1-Ring in Austria, and finished the year ranked tenth in the world championship. In 2000, he was joined on the Belgarda team by Noriyuki Haga. Guareschi scored another podium result with a third place at Phillip Island in Australia, but dropped to twentieth in the season final standings.
Guareschi joined the Ducati factory racing team in 2001, competing aboard a Ducati 748 in the Supersport World Championship and finishing the season in sixteenth place. After the 2001 season, Guareschi stopped racing to become the development rider for the Ducati factory racing team's new MotoGP entry, the Desmosedici. He raced one final time, entering the Monza round of the 2004 Supersport World Championship, where he finished in eighth place. Guareschi continued in his role as Ducati's chief development rider until 5 November 2009, when he was named as team manager of the Ducati MotoGP team, succeeding the Honda-bound Livio Suppo.
At the end of the 2013 MotoGP season, Guareschi resigned his position with Ducati to take on the role of team manager for Valentino Rossi's Sky Racing Team by VR46 in the Moto3 category. He left the team in September 2014 and returned to work at his family's Moto Guzzi concession in Parma. Together with his brother, Gianfranco Guareschi, he modified an Aprilia Tuareg 660 ridden by Jacopo Cerutti to win the 2024 Africa Eco Race.
Superbike World Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year Team Machine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 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 1999 Belgarda-Yamaha YZF-R7 RSA12 RSA13 AUS13 AUS15 GBR16 GBRRet ESP9 ESP9 ITA11 ITA10 GER7 GER9 SMR9 SMR8 USARet USARet EUR15 EUR14 AUT3 AUTRet NED13 NEDRet GER10 GER12 JPN JPN 10th 99 2000 Belgarda-Yamaha YZF-R7 RSA15 RSARet AUS3 AUSRet JPNRet JPNRet GBRNC GBR14 ITA12 ITARet GER23 GER13 SMRRet SMR16 ESP12 ESP13 USARet USADNS GBR19 GBR12 NED15 NEDRet GERRet GERRet GBR12 GBR12 20th 46
References
External links Vittoriano Guareschi racing career bio Ducati Corse home page Vittoriano Guareschi interview at crash.net