Alessandro Gramigni

Gramigni was born in Florence, Italy. After a succession of good results as an amateur, he made his Grand Prix debut in 1990 riding an Aprilia in the 125cc Class, ending the season in ninth position. He won his first race at the 1991 Czechoslovak Grand Prix and finished the season ranked seventh in the championship with 90 points. His victory in Czechoslovakia also marked the first Grand Prix victory in world championship competition for the Aprilia factory.^[2]

In the 1992 season he started very well, after three Grands Prix he had won at Shah Alam in Malaysia and was among the top of the standings but before the race in Spain he had a road accident, a car hit him while he was riding an enduro motorbike causing him a fracture of the tibia and fibula with involvement of the ligaments in his foot. Thanks to Doctor Claudio Costa and the Mobile Clinic he managed to get back on the bike for the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello, 19 days after the accident, with a cast on his foot covered in leather and coloured like a boot. He finished eleventh but it gave him confidence for the following Grands Prix. A week later, still in the cast, he raced in the European Grand Prix finishing fourth, in the following tests he finished seventh, third and first at the Hungary GP. While the other contenders for the Hondas had their ups and downs, he remained consistent in his results, with three podium finishes in the last three races, managing to become the World Champion of the 125cc class by 16 points more than the second-placed Italian, Fausto Gresini. With this world championship success for Gramigni, Aprilia obtains the first title in its history in the world championship.^[3][4]

He then moved up to the 250cc class in next season, first with the Gilera team before switching back to Aprilia. It was a disappointing season, as he scored only 2 points. He competed two more seasons in the 250 class, 1994 with the Aprilia, and in 1995 with Honda. After a two-year sabbatical, he entered one race in the 500cc class at the 1997 Malaysian Grand Prix before ending his Grand Prix career.

Gramigni turned his attention to the Superbike World Championship from 1998 to 2001 and then in 2003 and 2005.^[5] In 2004 he won the Italian Superbike Championship with the Yamaha Team 391 Racing team.