Marco Melandri
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| Marco Melandri | |
|---|---|
| MotoGP Record | |
| Nationality |  Italian |
| Nicknames | Macio[1] |
| Bike # | 33 |
| Current team | Fortuna Honda Team |
| World Championships | 1 (2002) |
| Race Starts | 139 |
| Race Wins | 22 |
| Podium finishes | 58 |
| Pole positions | 9 |
| Fastest laps | 16 |
| Championship Points | 1658 |
| 2007 Championship position | 5th (11 pts) |
Marco Melandri (born August 7, 1982) is an Italian MotoGP road racer currently racing for Fortuna Honda Team. Melandri also a former 250cc World Champion in 2002. Melandri currently lives 2 miles away from the famous race track, Donington Park, Derbyshire, England.
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early days
Marco Melandri was born in Ravenna. He was introduced to racing by a former rider Loris Reggiani at the age of six years old. He came through the ranks from minibikes, motocross and then the Italian and European 125cc championship.
In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship and also finish 4th in European 125cc championship. In addition to his European success, he made his debut in 125cc world championship at Brno, Czech Republic as a wild card rider.
[edit] 125cc (1998-1999)
After impressing in Italian and European championship in 1997, Melandri finally got his chance to compete in 1998 125cc world championship as a regular. He rode Honda 125cc bike under Benneton Honda Team. He went on to impress many as he earned his first podium in the fourth race of the season, where he finish second on his home Grand Prix at Mugello, Italy. His brilliant debut season continues when he won his first grand prix at Assen TT, Netherlands. He won this race at the age of 15 years and 324 days which makes him the youngest ever Grand Prix winner. Overall, he won two Grand Prix in his debut season and therefore he finish the season at 3rd position on overall standing behind champion Kazuto Sakata and runner-up Tomomi Manako.
He remained on the same bike and team in 1999, where he bid to win the 125cc world championship. He went on to win 5 Grand Prix but failed to won the championship, finishing second behind Emilio Alzamora with just a single point difference. Failure in securing his first world championship did not stop his rise to 250cc world championship in 2000.
[edit] 250cc (2000-2002)
Melandri was signed by Aprilia in 2000 to replace another Italian Valentino Rossi who left the team and 250cc class for 500cc class. He was highly expected to take over Rossi's shoes and to win the 250cc world championship. However, his debut season did not start as well as the expectation. He struggled to adapt to bigger bike and higher competition. He failed to win any Grand Prix in 2000, managing only 4 podiums, all came late in the season. Despite these problems, he still finishes the season at 5th position overall.
In 2001, his performances were improving. He managed to win his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring, Germany. However, it was his only win in 2001. Despite managing to appear on the podium on 9 occasions, he never really challenged for the championship. He finished the season in 3rd position behind champion Daijiro Kato and runner-up Tetsuya Harada.
2002 proved to be Melandri's chance to shine. With 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada moved to MotoGP class, he became the strongest contender for the championship. He dominated the season by collecting 9 wins and 3 additional podiums. After challenging for world championship for years, he finally won the 250cc world title. He became the youngest 250cc world champion at the age of 20 years and 74 days until Dani Pedrosa breaks his record in 2004.
[edit] MotoGP (2003-present)
After securing the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to MotoGP class to spearhead Yamaha factory team alongside Carlos Checa in 2003. Unfortunately he broke his leg in a heavy crash in this first race meeting, and struggled to succeed for the rest of the season. He finished the season in 15th position without collecting any podiums.
He joined Yamaha satellite team, Tech 3 in 2004 alongside Norick Abe. This season, he again struggled to get top results. However, he manages to collect 2 consecutive podiums, but a series of crash and retirement keep him out of top 10 in overall standings. He finished the season in 12th position.
Having been released from his Yamaha contract in 2005, Melandri became a surprise choice by team boss Fausto Gresini to join Sete Gibernau in his Movistar Honda, but he proved to be the revelation of the season, with a consistent run of podium finishes early in the season, ultimately taking his first two wins in the final two races of the season to clinch second place in the championship. He was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races for nearly two years, winning round 16 of MotoGP championship at Istanbul, Turkey and Valencia. Although he never really challenges his best friend Valentino Rossi for the title, he finished the season strongly as runner-up with total of 2 wins and 5 additional podiums.
Melandri rides for the Gresini's Fortuna Honda team alongside Toni Elías in 2006 season. With Rossi struggling to find consistency, he became Rossi's main challenger along with Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda's pair Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. He again won at Istanbul despite starting from a lowly 14th on the grid. He manages another wins at Le Mans, France and Phillip Island, Australia. He finished the season on 4th position just 1 point behind Capirossi.
In 2007, Melandri remained in Gresini's Honda team together with his teammate Toni Elias.
[edit] Career summary
- 1996: 13th in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda
- 1997: 1st in 125cc Italian Championship with Honda, 1st in 125cc Honda Trophy with Honda, 4th in European 125cc Championship with Honda
- 1998: 3rd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Matteoni (Honda)
- 1999: 2nd in 125cc World Championship with Benetton Playlife (Honda)
- 2000: 5th in 250cc World Championship with Blu Aprilia Team (Aprilia)
- 2001: 3rd in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia)
- 2002: 1st in 250cc World Championship with MS Aprilia Racing (Aprilia)
- 2003: 15th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Yamaha Team (Yamaha)
- 2004: 12th in MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 (Yamaha)
- 2005: 2nd in MotoGP World Championship with MoviStar Honda MotoGP (Honda)
- 2006: 4th MotoGP World Championship with Fortuna Honda (Honda)
- 2007: MotoGP World Championship with Gresini Honda (Honda)
[edit] Career statistics
[edit] By seasons
| Seas | Class | Moto | Race | Win | Pod | Pole | FLap | Pts | Plcd | WCh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 125cc | Honda | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 |
| 1998 | 125cc | Honda | 14 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 202 | 3rd | 0 |
| 1999 | 125cc | Honda | 14 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 226 | 2nd | 0 |
| 2000 | 250cc | Aprilia | 16 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 159 | 5th | 0 |
| 2001 | 250cc | Aprilia | 15 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 194 | 3rd | 0 |
| 2002 | 250cc | Aprilia | 16 | 9 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 298 | 1st | 1 |
| 2003 | MotoGP | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 15th | 0 |
| 2004 | MotoGP | Yamaha YZR-M1 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 75 | 12th | 0 |
| 2005 | MotoGP | Honda RC211V | 17 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 220 | 2nd | 0 |
| 2006 | MotoGP | Honda RC211V | 17 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 228 | 4th | 0 |
| 2007 | MotoGP | Honda RC212V | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 5th | 0 |
| Total | 139 | 22 | 58 | 9 | 16 | 1658 | 1 |
[edit] By class
| Class | Season(s) | 1st Grand Prix | 1st Podium | 1st Win | Race | Win | Pod | Pole | FLap | Pts | WCh |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125cc | 1997-1999 | 1997 Czech Rep. | 1998 Italy | 1998 Dutch | 29 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 428 | 0 |
| 250cc | 2000-2002 | 2000 South Africa | 2000 Portugal | 2001 Germany | 47 | 10 | 25 | 3 | 8 | 651 | 1 |
| MotoGP | 2003-2007 | 2003 Japan | 2004 Catalunya | 2005 Turkey | 63 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 3 | 579 | 0 |
| Total | 1997-2007 | 139 | 22 | 58 | 9 | 16 | 1658 | 1 |
[edit] Races by year (MotoGP only)
| Yr | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | MotoGP | Yamaha | JPN - |
SAF - |
SPA 17 |
FRA 15 |
ITA 11 |
CAT 13 |
DUT ret |
BRI ret |
GER ret |
CZE 10 |
POR 7 |
BRA 11 |
PAC 5 |
MAL 9 |
AUS ret |
VAL - |
||
| 2004 | MotoGP | Yamaha | SAF 11 |
SPA ret |
FRA 6 |
ITA 9 |
CAT 3 |
DUT 3 |
BRA 13 |
GER ret |
BRI - |
CZE 9 |
POR ret |
JPN 5 |
QAT ret |
MAL ret |
AUS ret |
VAL ret |
||
| 2005 | MotoGP | Honda | SPA 3 |
POR 4 |
CHN 3 |
FRA 4 |
ITA 4 |
CAT 3 |
NED 2 |
USA ret |
GBR ret |
GER 7 |
CZE 6 |
JPN ret |
MAL 5 |
QAT 2 |
AUS 4 |
TUR 1 |
VAL 1 |
|
| 2006 | MotoGP | Honda | SPA 5 |
QAT 7 |
TUR 1 |
CHN 7 |
FRA 1 |
ITA 6 |
CAT ret |
NED 7 |
GBR 3 |
GER 2 |
USA 3 |
CZE 5 |
MAL 9 |
AUS 1 |
JPN 3 |
POR 8 |
VAL 5 |
|
| 2007 | MotoGP | Honda | QAT 5 |
SPA |
CHN |
TUR |
FRA |
ITA |
CAT |
GBR |
NED |
GER |
USA |
CZE |
SMR |
JPN |
AUS |
MAL |
POR |
VAL |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Pronunced as "Macho".
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Daijiro Kato |
250cc Motorcycle World Champion 2002 |
Succeeded by Manuel Poggiali |
