2009 season review: Raffaele de Rosa

It may have been Raffaele de Rosa’s first season in the quarter litre category, but the Italian showed no signs of being a novice as he finished sixth in the 2009 World Championship on board his Honda.

Making the step up from 125cc, De Rosa immediately set about making his presence felt at the intermediate level as he rose from 14th on the grid at Losail to finish in fifth place in the first race of the season, one place behind team mate and eventual Championship winner Hiroshi Aoyama.

From there, De Rosa proved that his top-five finish in Qatar was not a one-off, as he placed inside the top 10 a further 11 times throughout the season.

The 22 year-old rode a fine race at Le Mans to claim sixth place, and finished within 10 seconds of race winner Marco Simoncelli at Brno as he again took sixth while challenging Aoyama and Roberto Locatelli.

The high points of De Rosa’s season came towards the end however, as he claimed his first two World Championship podiums. At Phillip Island, De Rosa finished third from pole position, and in the final race of the campaign he repeated that result at Valencia from 11th on the grid. And so sixth position in the overall standings was secured, along with the Rookie of the Year award.

De Rosa’s fantastic campaign was enough for him to secure a Moto2 ride next season, and it will be with Tech3 that he rides in the inaugural year of the new category in 2010.