Mike Di Meglio

Mike Di Meglio
Mike Di Meglio
	Di Meglio at the 2013 French Grand Prix
Nationality	French
Born	17 January 1988 (age 36); Toulouse, France
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years	2014–2015
Manufacturers	Avintia, Ducati
Championships	0
2015 championship position	24th (8 pts)
Moto2 World Championship
Active years	2010–2013
Manufacturers	RSV, Suter, Tech 3, Speed Up, MZ-RE Honda, Kalex, Motobi
Championships	0
2013 championship position	20th (19 pts)
250cc World Championship
Active years	2009
Manufacturers	Aprilia
Championships	0
2009 championship position	8th (107 pts)
125cc World Championship
Active years	2003–2008
Manufacturers	Honda, Aprilia, Derbi
Championships	1 (2008)
2008 championship position	1st (264 pts)
MotoE World Championship
Active years	2019–
Manufacturers	Energica
Championships	0
2020 championship position	4th (75 pts)

Mickaël Di Meglio^[2] (born 17 January 1988) is a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and three-time world champion claiming the 2008 125cc title,^[3] as well as winning the 2022 & 2017-2018 FIM Endurance World Championship. Since the 2018–19 FIM EWC season, Di Meglio has raced for F.C.C. TSR Honda France. From 2019 on, he also competes in the MotoE World Cup aboard an Energica Ego Corsa. He twice won the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in 2017 on Yamaha and in 2020 on the Honda CBR.^[4] He also twice won the Bol d'Or 24-hour motorcycle endurance race on Circuit Paul Ricard. In 2017 Yamaha and 2018 Honda.

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 between 2003 and 2015.

Early life

Di Meglio was born in Toulouse. Of Italian descent, his paternal grandfather was born in Lentini (Province of Siracusa).

Career

125cc World Championship

2003

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

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

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 Lüthi. 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

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 and a factory bike, he suffered an injury, and scored in only four races that resulted in eight points. He left the team immediately for Team Scot the following year after Portugal as the result of his performance with the team.

2007

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

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.

250cc World Championship

2009

For 2009, he moved up to the 250cc class with the Aspar 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.

Moto2 World Championship

2010

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 and 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.

2011

In 2011, Di Meglio moved to Tech3's Moto2 programme, finishing in 23rd place.

2012

In 2012, Di Meglio split his season between the Speed Up, MZ, and Kiefer Racing teams. He ultimately improved to 22nd place in the championship.

2013

Di Meglio switched to the JiR team for 2013 on Motobi-sponsored machinery. He finished the season in 20th position.

MotoGP World Championship

2014

Di Meglio made his premier-class debut in 2014 with Avintia Racing. He finished his rookie season in 25th place with 9 points, last of all the season regular riders.

2015

For 2015, Di Meglio was retained by Avintia, this time riding a one-year-old Ducati GP14. Despite scoring fewer points than the previous season, he made a slight improvement to finish in 24th place on the season. At the close of the season, Di Meglio was dropped by Avintia in favour of compatriot Loris Baz.

FIM Endurance World Championship

2016–2017

Following his dismissal from the MotoGP class, Di Meglio moved to endurance racing in the FIM Endurance World Championship with the successful French GMT94 Yamaha team, partnering riders Niccolò Canepa and David Checa. The team achieved wins at the 24 Heures Motos, Oschersleben 8 Hours, and 8 Hours of Slovakia Ring, leading GMT94 to their third team's championship and helping Yamaha to the manufacturer's championship. As Di Meglio did not compete in the first race of the season, the Bol d'Or, he was classified 3rd in the rider's championship behind his teammates and members of the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team.

2017–2018

The following season, Di Meglio remained with GMT94 and teammates Canepa and Checa. The team achieved one win at the Bol d'Or and ultimately finished the season in 2nd place behind F.C.C. TSR Honda France.

2018–2019

For 2018–2019, Di Meglio switched to F.C.C. TSR Honda France, replacing compatriot Alan Techer to partner Joshua Hook and Freddy Foray. They achieved wins at the Bol d'Or and Oschersleben 8 Hours, finishing the teams' and riders' championships in 2nd place behind Team SRC Kawasaki France.

MotoE World Cup

2019

In late 2018, Di Meglio was confirmed to be rejoining the Grand Prix paddock as part of the inaugural MotoE season, racing for Marc VDS.^[5] He achieved a third-place podium in the German opener, followed by a grand slam in Austria (pole, win, and fastest lap), but subsequent retirements and poor finishes relegated him to just 6th position at the conclusion of the season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Number	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2003	125cc	Aprilia RS125R	Freesoul Racing Team	63	15	0	0	0	0	5	28th	–
2003	125cc	Honda RS125R	MetaSystem Rg Service	63	15	0	0	0	0	5	28th	–
2004	125cc	Aprilia RS125R	Globet.com Racing	63	14	0	0	0	0	41	18th	–
2005	125cc	Honda RS125R	Kopron Racing World	63	16	1	2	0	0	104	11th	–
2006	125cc	Honda RS125R	FFM Honda GP 125	63	14	0	0	0	0	8	25th	–
2007	125cc	Honda RS125R	Kopron Team Scot	63	15	0	0	0	0	42	17th	–
2008	125cc	Derbi RSA 125	Ajo Motorsport	63	17	4	9	2	4	264	1st	1
2009	250cc	Aprilia RSW 250 LE	Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc	63	16	0	2	1	0	107	8th	–
2009	250cc	Aprilia RSA 250	Mapfre Aspar Team 250cc	63	16	0	2	1	0	107	8th	–
2010	Moto2	RSV Motor DR600	Mapfre Aspar Team	63	16	0	0	0	0	34	20th	–
2010	Moto2	Suter MMX	Mapfre Aspar Team	63	16	0	0	0	0	34	20th	–
2011	Moto2	Tech 3 Mistral 610	Tech 3 Racing	63	17	0	0	0	0	30	23rd	–
2012	Moto2	Speed Up S12	Speed Master Speed Up	63	16	0	0	0	0	17	22nd	–
		MZ-RE Honda MZ Moto2	Cresto Guide MZ Racing Team
		Kalex Moto2	Kiefer Racing
2013	Moto2	Motobi TSR6	JiR	63	10	0	0	0	0	19	20th	–
2014	MotoGP	Avintia GP14	Avintia Racing	63	18	0	0	0	0	9	25th	–
2015	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	Avintia Racing	63	18	0	0	0	0	8	24th	–
2019	MotoE	Energica Ego Corsa	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	63	6	1	2	1	1	63	5th	–
2020	MotoE	Energica Ego Corsa	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	63	7	0	2	0	0	75	4th	–
Total					215	6	17	4	5	826		1

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	2003–2008	2003 Japan	2005 Great Britain	2005 Turkey	91	5	11	2	4	464	1
250cc	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
MotoE	2019–2020	2019 Germany	2019 Germany	2019 Austria	13	1	4	1	1	138	0
Total	2003–2015, 2019–2020				215	6	17	4	5	826	1

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
2003	125cc	Honda												RIO Ret	PAC Ret	MAL 22	AUS Ret	VAL Ret			28th	5
2004	125cc	Aprilia	RSA 5	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 12	RIO 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	INP 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	INP 4	RSM 5	POR 2	AUS 5	MAL Ret	VAL 14			8th	107
2010	Moto2	RSV	QAT 16	SPA 22																	20th	34
2010	Moto2	Suter			FRA 20	ITA Ret	GBR 7	NED 8	CAT Ret	GER Ret	CZE 20	INP 12	RSM Ret	ARA 13	JPN 18	MAL 26	AUS 6	POR DNQ	VAL 26		20th	34
2011	Moto2	Tech 3	QAT 19	SPA 26	POR 9	FRA Ret	CAT Ret	GBR 17	NED Ret	ITA 24	GER 16	CZE 15	INP 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	INP 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	INP 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	INP 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	INP 17	CZE 18	GBR 14	RSM 13	ARA 20	JPN 15	AUS 20	MAL 18	VAL Ret	24th	8
2019	MotoE	Energica	GER 3	AUT 1	RSM1 Ret	RSM2 10	VAL1 10	VAL2 6													5th	63
2020	MotoE	Energica	SPA 10	ANC 7	RSM 6	EMI1 Ret	EMI2 6	FRA1 2	FRA2 2												4th	75