Régis Laconi
# Régis Laconi

Régis Laconi (born 8 July 1975 in Saint-Dizier, Haute-Marne) is a French former professional motorcycle racer. In 2009 he competed in the Superbike World Championship for DFX on a Ducati. He was runner-up in 2004, and has won races in both Grand Prix in 500cc engine capacity classification and the Superbike World Championship.

## Early career

Laconi has a French mother and Italian father. He started racing in 1991 in the French 125cc championship. He won this title in 1992, the French 250cc title a year later, and the European 250cc champion in 1994. For 1995 he went to the 250cc World Championship, but was never a front-runner in his two seasons there.

## 500cc

1997 was his first season on a 500cc Grand Prix bike, but his World Championship season was marred by injury, missing four rounds after being run over twice in a first-turn incident at the A1 Ring. With Red Bull backing he returned for 1998, riding a Yamaha for three years. He finished 10th, 11th and 12th in the series in this time, but won at Valencia in 1999

## Superbike World Championship

For 2001 he was a factory Aprilia WSBK rider. He led the first lap of the season, but struggled for much of the season on circuits he did not know. Until the final round at Imola his best result was a 4th, but he benefitted from knowing this circuit (which, like himself, was new to WSBK after being familiar in 500cc). He qualified 2nd, and won the second race, after running strongly in race 1 before being taken out by a fall for champion Troy Bayliss. A move to MotoGP for 2002 was not successful, with a best result of 8th, so for 2003 he returned to WSBK for the Caracchi Ducati team, doing enough to earn a factory ride for 2004 by taking 5 podium finishes, finishing 4th in a relatively weakened championship.

He and team-mate James Toseland were clear favourites for the 2004 title, which Toseland took at the final round of the season, in spite of Régis taking 5 poles and 7 wins, and having what is seen as the stronger team of mechanics. His 2005 season was interrupted by injury, and for 2006 he switched to Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse. He finished the season behind his two team-mates in the championship, taking 15th place, with Chris Walker in 9th and Fonsi Nieto in 10th.

He remained with the team for 2007 and finished 10th overall. He continues with the same team for 2008. At Misano the team ran in a localised San Marino livery, but unfortunately both he and team-mate Makoto Tamada crashed in race 1, forcing Laconi to run race 2 in the conventional green Kawasaki livery.

For 2009 Laconi switched to private Ducatis, riding the sole DFX machine. Results were strong early in the season, however he was seriously injured when he crashed heavily during the opening moments of the first practice of the Kyalami round of the World Superbike Championship. As of 20 May 2009 it was reported that Laconi awakened from his medically induced coma and is reported to have full movement in his arms, hands and legs. Laconi has undergone surgery to clasp his cervical vertebrae back together and it is expected he will remain immobile for some time.

Laconi returned for an exploratory test for the DFX Corse Ducati Team at Misano in June 2010 following his horrific crash at Kyalami in 2009. Regis had been training on his bicycle and after more than 70 laps with a best time of 1'37"800, he proved that his talent is still intact. But any thoughts of returning to racing for the moment are premature and totally groundless.The friendship that ties Regis to team manager Daniele Carli enabled the test to take place.

## Career statistics

### Grand Prix motorcycle racing

**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 | Pos | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1992 | 125cc | Honda | JPN | AUS | MAL | SPA | ITA | EUR | GER | NED | HUN | FRA 26 | GBR | BRA | RSA | | | | NC | 0 |
| 1995 | 250cc | Honda | AUS Ret | MAL 21 | JPN 15 | SPA 20 | GER Ret | ITA 19 | NED Ret | FRA Ret | GBR 15 | CZE 21 | BRA Ret | ARG 14 | EUR Ret | | | | 27th | 4 |
| 1996 | 250cc | Honda | MAL Ret | INA 16 | JPN 14 | SPA Ret | ITA 14 | FRA 11 | NED Ret | GER 8 | GBR 7 | AUT 9 | CZE 16 | IMO Ret | CAT 10 | BRA Ret | AUS 12 | | 15th | 43 |
| 1997 | 500cc | Honda | MAL 12 | JPN 12 | SPA 10 | ITA 10 | AUT Ret | FRA | NED | IMO | GER | BRA 9 | GBR Ret | CZE 7 | CAT 11 | INA 16 | AUS 5 | | 14th | 52 |
| 1998 | 500cc | Yamaha | JPN DNS | MAL | SPA 14 | ITA 10 | FRA 11 | MAD 7 | NED 9 | GBR 8 | GER 5 | CZE 9 | IMO 12 | CAT 8 | AUS 7 | ARG 6 | | | 10th | 86 |
| 1999 | 500cc | Yamaha | MAL 7 | JPN Ret | SPA 7 | FRA 8 | ITA Ret | CAT Ret | NED 12 | GBR Ret | GER 13 | CZE 9 | IMO 5 | VAL 1 | AUS 3 | RSA 14 | BRA 11 | ARG 12 | 11th | 103 |
| 2000 | 500cc | Yamaha | RSA 9 | MAL 9 | JPN 14 | SPA 8 | FRA 9 | ITA 7 | CAT 13 | NED 8 | GBR 12 | GER 7 | CZE 13 | POR 5 | VAL 6 | BRA 8 | PAC 11 | AUS 11 | 12th | 106 |
| 2002 | MotoGP | Aprilia | JPN 8 | RSA 15 | SPA 14 | FRA 9 | ITA 8 | CAT 14 | NED Ret | GBR 16 | GER Ret | CZE 16 | POR Ret | BRA Ret | PAC 11 | MAL 17 | AUS Ret | VAL Ret | 19th | 33 |

### Superbike World Championship

**Races by year**

| Year | Make | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 14 | 14 | Pos. | Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Year | Make | 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 | R1 | R2 | Pos. | Pts |
| 2001 | Aprilia | SPA 4 | SPA Ret | RSA 8 | RSA 6 | AUS Ret | AUS C | JPN 14 | JPN 14 | ITA 5 | ITA 8 | GBR 12 | GBR 11 | GER 7 | GER 13 | SMR Ret | SMR Ret | USA 11 | USA 9 | EUR Ret | EUR 11 | GER 8 | GER 5 | NED 9 | NED 7 | ITA Ret | ITA 1 | | | 11th | 152 |
| 2003 | Ducati | SPA 5 | SPA Ret | AUS 6 | AUS 4 | JPN 2 | JPN 7 | ITA 2 | ITA 4 | GER 4 | GER 4 | GBR 4 | GBR 6 | SMR 3 | SMR 4 | USA Ret | USA 4 | GBR 4 | GBR 8 | NED Ret | NED 4 | ITA 3 | ITA 2 | FRA 6 | FRA 16 | | | | | 4th | 267 |
| 2004 | Ducati | SPA Ret | SPA Ret | AUS 1 | AUS Ret | SMR 1 | SMR 2 | ITA 1 | ITA 1 | GER 6 | GER 1 | GBR Ret | GBR 3 | USA 5 | USA 3 | EUR 2 | EUR Ret | NED 3 | NED 5 | ITA 1 | ITA 1 | FRA 3 | FRA 3 | | | | | | | 2nd | 327 |
| 2005 | Ducati | QAT 3 | QAT 2 | AUS 7 | AUS 7 | SPA DNS | SPA DNS | ITA 4 | ITA 2 | EUR 1 | EUR Ret | SMR 1 | SMR 1 | CZE 3 | CZE 7 | GBR 3 | GBR 5 | NED DNS | NED DNS | GER | GER | ITA 9 | ITA C | FRA DNS | FRA DNS | | | | | 6th | 221 |
| 2006 | Kawasaki | QAT 13 | QAT Ret | AUS 13 | AUS 16 | SPA 8 | SPA 8 | ITA 7 | ITA Ret | EUR 7 | EUR 14 | SMR 6 | SMR 19 | CZE Ret | CZE 16 | GBR 9 | GBR 4 | NED Ret | NED 8 | GER 12 | GER 19 | ITA 10 | ITA 10 | FRA 9 | FRA 18 | | | | | 15th | 103 |
| 2007 | Kawasaki | QAT Ret | QAT 11 | AUS Ret | AUS Ret | EUR 7 | EUR 6 | SPA 11 | SPA 8 | NED 16 | NED 10 | ITA Ret | ITA 8 | GBR 5 | GBR C | SMR 7 | SMR 11 | CZE 11 | CZE 14 | GBR 8 | GBR 9 | GER 6 | GER 11 | ITA 7 | ITA Ret | FRA 9 | FRA 8 | | | 10th | 137 |
| 2008 | Kawasaki | QAT 15 | QAT 16 | AUS Ret | AUS 17 | SPA 8 | SPA 9 | NED 11 | NED 16 | ITA Ret | ITA Ret | USA Ret | USA 9 | GER 14 | GER 10 | SMR Ret | SMR Ret | CZE Ret | CZE Ret | GBR Ret | GBR 16 | EUR Ret | EUR 15 | ITA 16 | ITA 9 | FRA 11 | FRA 20 | POR 10 | POR 10 | 16th | 61 |
| 2009 | Ducati | AUS 7 | AUS 4 | QAT 10 | QAT 14 | SPA 4 | SPA 4 | NED 8 | NED 16 | ITA 8 | ITA 11 | RSA | RSA | USA | USA | SMR | SMR | GBR | GBR | CZE | CZE | GER | GER | ITA | ITA | FRA | FRA | POR | POR | 15th | 77 |
