Alex Barros

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Alexandre Barros
Nationality Flag of Brazil Brazilian

Grand Prix motorcycle racing career
Active years 1986 - 2005, 2007
Teams Autisa, Arbizu, Yamaha, Cagiva, Suzuki, Honda, Ducati
Grands Prix 276
Championships 0
Wins 7
Podium finishes    32
Career points 2123
Pole positions 5
Fastest laps 14
First Grand Prix 1986 80cc Spanish Grand Prix
First win 1993 500cc FIM Grand Prix
Last win 2005 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix
Last Grand Prix 2007 MotoGP Valencian Grand Prix


Alex Barros in Jerez 2004
Alex Barros in Jerez 2004
Alex Barros in Motegi 2004
Alex Barros in Motegi 2004

Alex Barros (born Alexandre Barros on October 18, 1970 in São Paulo, Brazil) is a Brazilian motorcycle road racer. After a long career in MotoGP, for 2006 he moved to the Superbike World Championship. He returned to MotoGP for 2007, but retired by the end of the season [1].

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

Barros started racing at the age of 8, when he won on his début in the Brazilian minibike championship. In the next two years, he was twice Brazilian moped champion. In 1981, he was the Brazilian 50cc Champion, and in 1985 he won the title of Brazilian's 250cc category. The year of 1986 saw his international début in the 80cc category -- he lied about his age so he could race at the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 15. He finished the championship in thirteenth place, scoring 6 points. In 1987, he also raced the 80cc championship, finishing seventeenth, scoring 8 points.

[edit] 250cc

In 1988, Barros made his first race on the World Championship 250cc category, scoring no points. That same year, he was 3rd in the Latin American circuit of that same class. The next year, he finished 18th in the World Championship, scoring 30 points.

[edit] 500cc and MotoGP

In 1990, Alex Barros was the youngest rider in history to join the top motorcycling category, the 500cc, at the age of 20. In his first year, he was 12th overall, with 57 points. Notable results included 8th in the United States and Germany, and 5th in the Belgium Grand Prix. Two years later, his first podium: a third place in the Netherlands.

The year of 1993 saw his breakthrough as he joined the Suzuki team. After qualifying third in the US Grand Prix, Barros had his first victory in Spain, finishing that year's world championship in sixth place. His team-mate Kevin Schwantz was that year's champion. The following year, Barros scored in all but one the races. 1996 saw his best performance yet, finishing the championship at fourth, a feat he repeated in 2000, 2001 and 2002. His win at Mugello in 2001 was the latest by a rider other than Valentino Rossi (as of 2008). In 2002, the first of MotoGP (with engine displacement capacity increased to up to 990cc) he scored 206 points, eleven points behind second place. 2003 was a difficult one for Barros due to injuries, but in 2004, he once again finished the championship in fourth, in a season dominated by Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi. In 2005, Barros returned to the top of the podium, at the Portuguese Grand Prix, however he did not mount a lasting championship challenge, and was not offered a ride for 2006. He will return to MotoGP in 2007, riding a Ducati GP7 for Pramac d'Antin. After advising James Toseland not to take the ride [2], he appears to have pulled a devious move. In pre-season testing he matched the factory Ducatis, and midseason he lies ahead of the factory rider Loris Capirossi. He came third at Mugello (ahead of Stoner) and fourth at Istanbul Park.

[edit] Superbike World Championship

For 2006 he was hired by the Klaffi Honda team in the Superbike World Championship, paying around £100,000 of his own money to fund the ride. After a satisfatctory debut weekend with 2 top 10 finishes, he took a pair of podium finishes at round 2 in Phillip Island, and a second and a fourth in round four at Monza. At Brands Hatch he failed to qualify for Superpole, but bounced back from 18th on the grid to take a pair of top 10 finishes. The wet meeting at Assen was a disappointment for Alex, especially as he is a wet-weather expert.

His season was characterised by poor starts, but despite this he ended the season as the second highest Honda rider in the championship in sixth place, behind former champion James Toseland. At Imola he took his only WSBK win, and followed it with a 2nd in race 2.

[edit] Suzuka 8 Hours

In 1999, Barros and Japanese team-mate Tadayuki Okada won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurace race riding a Honda RC45 superbike.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] By season

Seas Class Moto Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
1986 80cc Autisa 8 0 0 0 0 6 16th -
1987 80cc Arbizu 9 0 0 0 0 8 17th -
1988 250cc Yamaha TZ250 1 0 0 0 0 0 - -
1989 250cc Yamaha TZ250 13 0 0 0 0 30 18th -
1990 500cc Cagiva GP500 14 0 0 0 0 57 12th -
1991 500cc Cagiva GP500 5 0 0 0 0 46 13th -
1992 500cc Cagiva GP500 11 0 1 0 1 29 13th -
1993 500cc Suzuki RGV500 14 1 2 0 2 125 6th -
1994 500cc Suzuki RGV500 14 0 1 0 0 134 8th -
1995 500cc Honda NSR500 13 0 0 0 0 104 7th -
1996 500cc Honda NSR500 15 0 3 0 0 158 4th -
1997 500cc Honda NSR500 15 0 1 0 0 101 9th -
1998 500cc Honda NSR500 14 0 2 0 2 138 5th -
1999 500cc Honda NSR500 16 0 1 0 2 110 9th -
2000 500cc Honda NSR500 16 2 3 3 1 163 4th -
2001 500cc Honda NSR500 16 1 4 0 0 182 4th -
2002 MotoGP Honda NSR500 12 0 2 0 0 204 4th -
Honda RC211V 4 2 4 1 2
2003 MotoGP Yamaha YZR-M1 15 0 1 0 0 101 9th -
2004 MotoGP Honda RC211V 16 0 4 0 2 165 4th -
2005 MotoGP Honda RC211V 17 1 2 1 2 147 8th -
2007 MotoGP Ducati GP7 18 0 1 0 0 115 10th -
Total 276 7 32 5 14 2123 0

[edit] By class

Class Seas 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Podiums Pole FLap Pts WChmp
80 cc 1986-1987 1986 Spain N/A N/A 17 0 0 0 0 14 0
250 cc 1988-1989 1988 Brazil N/A N/A 14 0 0 0 0 30 0
500 cc 1990-2001 1990 Japan 1992 Dutch 1993 FIM 163 4 18 3 8 1347 0
MotoGP 2002-2005, 2007 2002 Japan 2002 Dutch 2002 Pacific 82 3 14 2 6 732 0
Total 1986-2005, 2007 276 7 32 5 14 2123 0

[edit] Races by year (MotoGP only)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Final Pos Pts
2002 MotoGP Honda JPN
6
SAF
Ret
SPA
5
FRA
8
ITA
5
CAT
5
NED
2
GBR
3
GER
Ret
CZE
9
POR
5
BRA
4
PAC
1
MAL
3
AUS
2
VAL
1
    4th 204
2003 MotoGP Yamaha JPN
8
SAF
5
SPA
5
FRA
3
ITA
Ret
CAT
8
NED
8
GBR
Inj
GER
Ret
CZE
7
POR
11
BRA
12
PAC
6
MAL
15
AUS
Ret
VAL
6
    9th 101
2004 MotoGP Honda SAF
4
SPA
3
FRA
7
ITA
6
CAT
Ret
NED
Ret
BRA
5
GER
2
GBR
9
CZE
Ret
POR
3
JPN
4
QAT
4
MAL
3
AUS
5
VAL
6
    4th 165
2005 MotoGP Honda SPA
4
POR
1
CHN
11
FRA
Ret
ITA
7
CAT
4
NED
7
USA
Ret
GBR
3
GER
5
CZE
4
JPN
Ret
MAL
8
QAT
9
AUS
Ret
TUR
9
VAL
5
  8th 147
2007 MotoGP Ducati QAT
9
SPA
11
TUR
4
CHN
14
FRA
Ret
ITA
3
CAT
8
GBR
7
NED
7
GER
Ret
USA
9
CZE
9
SMR
Ret
POR
Ret
JPN
8
AUS
5
MAL
12
VAL
7
10th 115

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Preceded by
Tohru Ukawa
Shinichi Itoh
Suzuka 8 Hours Winner
1999 (with Tadayuki Okada)
Succeeded by
Tohru Ukawa
Daijiro Kato