Top 5 Suzuki MotoGP drivers of all time

Modified Jul 23, 2022 05:10 IST

Sheene's title in 1977 was the only world championship title from Britain until Danny Kent who won in 2015 in the Moto3 category

#4 Franco Uncini

Franco Uncini is a former Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He has won the world championship with Suzuki in 1982.

Uncini was born in Recanati which is a province of Macerata. He, like Marco Lucchinelli, made his racing debut in the 750cc class with Laverda. Uncini started off his Grand Prix career with Yamaha in 1976 in both the 250cc and 350cc classes.

In 1979, he was able to buy a Suzuki and built a private team from scratch. He was often meeting with accidents which hindered his career but after Marco Lucchinelli left Suzuki for Honda, they offered Uncini an official factory-sponsored race bike which is run by Roberto Gallina's team.

It was a great decision made by Uncini as he won five races along with the world championship. It is a surprise that he was the only Italian rider to have won the 500cc championships before Valentino Rossi won the championship in 2001.

Franco Uncini, unfortunately, suffered a major hit in 1983 and went into a coma. He was lucky that he recovered and then retired from the sport in 1985. He currently acts as the safety officer in MotoGP.

Edited by Alan John