Marco Lucchinelli
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| Motorcycle Grand Prix Career | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
|---|---|
| Active years | 1975 - 1986 |
| Team(s) | Honda |
| Grands Prix | 75 |
| Championships | 500cc - 1981 |
| Wins | 6 |
| Podium finishes | 19 |
| Pole positions | 9 |
| Fastest laps | 9 |
| First Grand Prix | 1975 350cc Nations Grand Prix |
| First win | 1980 500cc German Grand Prix |
| Last win | 1981 500cc Finnish Grand Prix |
| Last Grand Prix | 1986 500cc Nations Grand Prix |
Marco Lucchinelli (born June 26, 1954 in Bolano, Italy) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. In 1981 he won the FIM 500cc World Championship.
Lucchinelli began his road racing career in 1975 on a Laverda in Endurance racing. His riding impressed the Yamaha factory enough to earn him a sponsored bike in the Italian National Championship as well as a ride in the 1975 Nations Grand Prix in the 350 class.
In 1976 he rode a Suzuki in the 500cc World Championship earning fourth place in the championship with 2 second place finishes along with a third and a fourth place. He earned the nickname Crazy Horse for his wild riding style that attracted many fans. This fearless riding style also meant that he crashed quite often. In the 1977 season, he would drop to 11th place in the 500 World Championship on a Yamaha.
Lucchinelli returned to Suzuki for the 1978 season and in 1980, he won his first 500cc Grand Prix at the West German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. He would finish the season in third place behind Kenny Roberts and Randy Mamola.
He had his best year in 1981 when he took 5 victories aboard the Roberto Gallina backed Suzuki, battling Randy Mamola to the final race of the season before winning the 500cc World Championship. For 1982, Lucchinelli accepted a job offer from Honda to race their new three-cylinder NS500 alongside Freddie Spencer and Takazumi Katayama. He would have a lackluster season in which ironically, Franco Uncini would win the championship for the Roberto Gallina-Suzuki team for which Lucchinelli had won the title the previous year.
After another lackluster season with Honda in 1983, he joined the Cagiva team for the 1984 and 1985 seasons before he retired from Grand Prix racing. He tried his hand at car racing, competing in the Italian round of the 1986 Formula 3000 season in a Lola-Ford. In 1988 he joined the Ducati Superbike team where he won two races during the year before taking on the role of Ducati's team manager.
After retiring, Lucchinelli became a television commentator for the Eurosport network's motorcycle race coverage. He retired with 6 Grand Prix victories.
| Preceded by Kenny Roberts |
500cc Motorcycle World Champion 1981 |
Succeeded by Franco Uncini |
