Niccolò Canepa

IF ANYBODY CAN, NICCOLO CAN

Niccolò Canepa was crowned as an FIM Endurance World Champion in an exciting final round at the Suzuka 8 Hour, barely a year after making his debut in the discipline following a long career as a successful Superstock, MotoGP and World Superbike rider. The Italian hooked up with the experienced GMT94 Yamaha team in 2016, forming a strong relationship with team stalwart David Checa that took them to within a point of the FIM EWC title in their first campaign together.

After taking ninth place in the opening round of the new season at the Bol d'Or in 2016, the pair were joined by Mike Di Meglio for the 2017 races and stormed to victories at the Le Mans 24 Heures, the 8 Hours of Oschersleben and the 8 Hours of Slovakia Ring to hunt down early leaders and defending champions SERT.

Canepa first made his name as the FIM Superstock 1000 Champion in 2007 and after some impressive testing performances with Ducati he was awarded a satellite MotoGP seat for 2009, finishing in a respectable sixteenth. After spending 2010 in the Moto2 class he returned to production racing, finishing second in Superstock in 2011 and in the World Superbike Evo class in 2014, before finding an affinity with World Endurance and the GMT94 Yamaha team. 

With Di Meglio having missed out on their result at the Bol D'Or, Canepa consequently shares the 2016-2017 FIM EWC rider's crown with his title-winning team-mate David Checa.

PALMARES

World title – 2017