Ralf Waldmann (14 July 1966 – 10 March 2018) was a German Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. __TOC__

Motorcycle racing career In 1996, Waldmann finished second to Max Biaggi in the 250cc world championship.Ralf Waldmann profile at crash.net In the 1997 season, he gave Biaggi a strong challenge, winning four races and finishing only two points behind the Italian. Kenny Roberts offered him a job for the 1998 season on a 500cc Modenas but the competition was too strong and he finished in 14th place. He returned to the 250 class the following year riding for the Aprilia team and retired from motorcycle competition after the 2002 season. Waldmann came out of semi-retirement in 2003 and signed with the new Harris WCM MotoGP team, but quit before the year began after failing to adapt to the new four-stroke Grand Prix bikes.

Waldmann's final win at the British Grand Prix in 2000 is of particular note. Running on wet tyres on a drying track he trailed the leaders by over a minute and half with ten laps remaining. But as rain started to fall again, he came back from almost a lap down to win the race at the final corner, just 0.3 seconds from Frenchman Olivier Jacque.Ralf Waldmann on speedweek.com

In 2009, Waldmann joined Martin Wimmer in buying out the motorbike manufacturing company MZ, from the Hong Leong Group.Visordown.com news He also had a brief return to Grand Prix motorcycle racing, substituting for the injured rider Vladimir Leonov at the British Grand Prix.

Death Waldmann died on 10 March 2018 in Ennepetal, Germany of a suspected heart attack at the age of 51.Ralf Waldmann died at age 51

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By class ClassSeason1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodiumsPoleFLapPtsWChmp 80cc 1986–1989 1986 Baden-Württemberg 12 0 0 0 0 24 0 125cc 1988–1993 1989 Great Britain 1991 Germany 1991 Germany 55 6 15 2 6 432 0 250cc 1994–1997, 1999–2000, 2002, 2009 1994 Australia 1994 Italy 1994 Italy 90 14 35 8 10 1166 0 500cc 1998 1998 Japan 12 0 0 0 0 46 0 Total 1986–2000, 2002, 2009 169 20 50 10 16 1668 0

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 Pts 1986 80cc Krauser SPA NAT GER AUT YUG NED GBR RSM BWU NC 0 1987 80cc ERK SPA GER NAT AUT YUG NED GBR CZE RSM POR 25th 1 1988 80cc Seel SPA EXP NAT GER NED YUG CZE NC 0 125cc Rotax SPA NAT GER AUT NED BEL YUG FRA GBR SWE CZE NC 0 1989 80cc Seel SPA NAT GER YUG NED CZE 14th 23 125cc Seel JPN AUS SPA NAT GER AUT NED BEL FRA GBR SWE CZE NC 0 1990 125cc JJ Cobas JPN SPA NAT GER AUT YUG NED BEL FRA GBR SWE CZE HUN AUS 23rd 19 1991 125cc Honda JPN AUS SPA ITA GER AUT EUR NED FRA GBR RSM CZE MAL 3rd 141 1992 125cc Honda JPN AUS MAL SPA ITA EUR GER NED HUN FRA GBR BRA RSA 3rd 112 1993 125cc Aprilia AUS MAL JPN SPA AUT GER NED EUR RSM GBR CZE ITA USA FIM 4th 160 1994 250cc Honda AUS MAL JPN SPA AUT GER NED ITA FRA GBR CZE USA ARG EUR 5th 156 1995 250cc Honda AUS MAL JPN SPA GER ITA NED FRA GBR CZE BRA ARG EUR 3rd 203 1996 250cc Honda MAL INA JPN SPA ITA FRA NED GER GBR AUT CZE IMO CAT BRA AUS 2nd 268 1997 250cc Honda MAL JPN SPA ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER BRA GBR CZE CAT INA AUS 2nd 248 1998 500cc Modenas JPN MAL SPA ITA FRA MAD NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT AUS ARG 14th 46 1999 250cc Aprilia MAL JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE IMO VAL AUS RSA BRA ARG 6th 131 2000 250cc Aprilia RSA MAL JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR VAL BRA PAC AUS 7th 143 2002 250cc Aprilia JPN RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC MAL AUS VAL 19th 17 2009 250cc Aprilia QAT JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GER GBR CZE INP SMR POR AUS MAL VAL NC 0

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 2005 Honda QAT QAT AUS AUS SPA SPA ITA ITA EUR EUR SMR SMR CZE CZE GBR GBR NED NED GER GER ITA ITA FRA FRA NC 0

References