Niccolo Antonelli · Biography

Niccolò Antonelli was born on 23 February 1996 in Cattolica, on the Romagna coast, and learned his craft on the region’s minibike tracks before moving up to full-size circuits. His father, Igor Antonelli, was also a professional rider. Antonelli spent ten seasons in Moto3, from 2012 to 2021, and finished with four wins, eleven podiums and nine pole positions. After that he raced in Moto2, the Supersport World Championship and the Italian national championship.

Minibikes and the Italian championship

He started racing in 2004 in the Junior A minibike class and finished eleventh. A year later he was regional champion and runner-up in the European championship. He stepped up to Junior B in 2006, and in 2007 he won that class at every level, including its world championship. In 2008 he became Italian MiniGP Junior 50 champion, and in 2009 he raced a Metrakit 125 in the Catalan and Mediterranean series. In 2010 he raced in the Red Bull Rookies Cup, finished sixth in the CIV 125 class and seventeenth in the Spanish championship. His breakthrough came in 2011, when he was Italian 125cc champion and fourth in the Spanish series.

Early world championship years with Gresini

He made his world championship debut in 2012 with Gresini, in the first season of the Moto3 class. He started on a Honda NSF250R and switched to an FTR from the Spanish Grand Prix onwards. He finished fourth twice, in France and Italy, and ended the year fourteenth on 77 points. A heavy blow to the head in free practice ruled him out of the Australian round. In 2013 he stayed at Gresini on an FTR Honda, with Lorenzo Baldassarri as teammate. It was an uneven year full of crashes and retirements, and he scored 47 points. In 2014 the team switched to KTM and Enea Bastianini joined as his teammate. His best result was fifth at Assen, and at the Valencia finale he took his first world championship pole. He finished fourteenth on 68 points.

Winning with Ongetta-Rivacold

In 2015 he joined Ongetta-Rivacold and went back to Honda. He started from pole at Brno and took his first world championship win. Later that year he also won the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi, and he finished third in Britain and San Marino. With 174 points he was fifth overall, his best world championship finish. In 2016, with the same team, he won the season opener in Qatar. An injury in practice kept him out of the German Grand Prix, and he finished eleventh on 91 points.

KTM Ajo and the SIC58 years

In 2017 he rode for Red Bull KTM Ajo alongside Bo Bendsneyder. A neck injury kept him out of the German round, but he finished second in Japan. He ended the year eighteenth on 38 points. In 2018 he joined SIC58 Squadra Corse, Paolo Simoncelli’s team, on a Honda with Tatsuki Suzuki as teammate. He was fourth in Qatar, where he also took pole, and fifteenth in the standings on 71 points. Shoulder, vertebra and foot injuries cost him several races. In 2019 he won the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, the fourth and last win of his Moto3 career, and took poles at the Grand Prix of the Americas and in Japan. A wrist fracture after Misano kept him out of Aragón and Thailand, yet he still finished seventh on 128 points. In 2020 shoulder surgery forced him to miss the opening race at Losail, where Josito García replaced him. His best result was fourth in the Czech Republic, and he finished nineteenth on 40 points.

Final Moto3 season and the move to Moto2

In 2021 he rode a KTM for Avintia Esponsorama, with Carlos Tatay as teammate. He finished second at Silverstone and Misano and third in Qatar and at the Algarve, and he took pole at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. He broke two metacarpals in his right hand at Styria, which cost him two races, and he finished sixth on 152 points. That ended his Moto3 career on 886 points. In 2022 he moved up to Moto2 with the Mooney VR46 Racing Team, riding a Kalex alongside Celestino Vietti. He failed to score all year, and his best result was sixteenth at the Red Bull Ring.

European Moto2, Supersport and the CIV

In 2023 he raced in the European Moto2 Championship for the Italian MMR team on a Kalex. He took a podium at Estoril and finished eleventh on 50 points. In 2024 he moved to the Supersport World Championship with Althea Racing on a Ducati, with Piotr Biesiekirski as teammate, and finished seventeenth on 46 points. In 2025 he switched to a Yamaha YZF-R9 and finished twenty-sixth. In 2026 he raced in CIV Supersport with Altogo Racing Team, again on a Yamaha, and was still in contention going into the final round at Vallelunga on 10 and 11 October 2026. There he won the first race and finished second in the second, 0.335 seconds behind Lorenzo Dalla Porta, who took the title.