2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 55th F.I.M. Road racing World Championship season. The season consisted of 16 races, beginning with the Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix on 6 April 2003 and ending with the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix on 2 November.

Season summary

Defending champion Valentino Rossi won his 3rd MotoGP championship in 2003, winning 9 races, highlighted by his win at Phillip Island where he was given a 10-second penalty for passing under a yellow flag and he overcame the penalty by winning the race with more than 10 seconds in hand. Rossi had become dissatisfied with his relationship with the Honda Racing Corporation^[1] and as the season progressed and HRC tried to get Rossi to sign a new contract, Rossi demurred until finally announcing at the end of the year that he would be leaving Honda. He soon signed with Yamaha and took Jeremy Burgess with him to be his crew chief.

The season was marred by Daijiro Kato being killed at the first round at Suzuka. He lost control of his motorcycle on the approach to the Casio Triangle and hit a barrier at high speed. His heart was restarted by track paramedics, but he did not wake from a coma and died 2 weeks later. Controversy arose because the race was not red-flagged to allow Kato to be removed from the track with maximum care.^[2] Suzuka has since been removed from the MotoGP calendar. Teammate Sete Gibernau would inherit Kato's factory-spec RC211V.

MotoGP rookies for 2003 included Nicky Hayden (Rookie of the Year), Troy Bayliss, Marco Melandri and Colin Edwards. A new constructor also arrived: Ducati. After much success in Superbike racing, Ducati returned to the premier-class of GP with their GP3. It made an immediate impression with its raw speed, and they finished the constructor's championship in second place, ahead of Yamaha and behind Honda.

2003 Grand Prix season calendar

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	MotoGP winner	Report
1	6 April	SKYY vodka Grand Prix of Japan	Suzuka	Stefano Perugini	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
2	27 April	Arnette Africa's Grand Prix	Phakisa	Dani Pedrosa	Manuel Poggiali	Sete Gibernau	Report
3	11 May	Gran Premio Marlboro de España	Jerez	Lucio Cecchinello	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
4	25 May	Grand Prix Polini de France	Le Mans	Dani Pedrosa	Toni Elías	Sete Gibernau	Report
5	8 June	Gran Premio Cinzano d'Italia	Mugello	Lucio Cecchinello	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
6	15 June	Gran Premi Marlboro de Catalunya	Catalunya	Dani Pedrosa	Randy de Puniet	Loris Capirossi	Report
7	28 June	Gauloises Dutch TT	Assen	Steve Jenkner	Anthony West	Sete Gibernau	Report
8	13 July	Cinzano British Grand Prix	Donington Park	Héctor Barberá	Fonsi Nieto	Max Biaggi	Report
9	27 July	Cinzano Motorrad GP Deutschland	Sachsenring	Stefano Perugini	Roberto Rolfo	Sete Gibernau	Report
10	17 August	Gauloises GP České Republiky	Brno	Dani Pedrosa	Randy de Puniet	Valentino Rossi	Report
11	7 September	GP Marlboro de Portugal	Estoril	Pablo Nieto	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
12	20 September	Cinzano Rio Grand Prix	Rio de Janeiro	Jorge Lorenzo	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
13	5 October	Gauloises Pacific GP of Motegi	Motegi	Héctor Barberá	Toni Elías	Max Biaggi	Report
14	12 October	Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle GP	Sepang	Dani Pedrosa	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
15	19 October	SKYY vodka Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island	Andrea Ballerini	Roberto Rolfo	Valentino Rossi	Report
16	2 November	GP Marlboro Comunitat Valenciana	Valencia	Casey Stoner	Randy de Puniet	Valentino Rossi	Report

Standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider has to finish the race to earn points.

Riders' standings

• Riders marked with light blue background are eligible for Rookie of the Year awards.
• Rounds marked with a light blue background were under wet race conditions or stopped by rain.

MotoGP

Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts 1 Valentino Rossi Honda 1 2 1 2 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 357 2 Sete Gibernau Honda 4 1 Ret 1 7 3 1 2 1 2 4 2 4 2 4 2 277 3 Max Biaggi Honda 2 3 2 5 3 14 2 1 Ret 5 2 4 1 3 17 4 228 4 Loris Capirossi Ducati 3 Ret Ret Ret 2 1 6 4 4 Ret 3 6 8 6 2 3 177 5 Nicky Hayden Honda 7 7 Ret 12 12 9 11 8 5 6 9 5 3 4 3 16 130 6 Troy Bayliss Ducati 5 4 3 Ret Ret 10 9 5 3 3 6 10 Ret 9 Ret 7 128 7 Carlos Checa Yamaha 10 9 Ret Ret 8 4 4 6 8 4 8 9 Ret 5 8 5 123 8 Tohru Ukawa Honda 20 6 4 7 6 6 12 Ret 6 8 5 7 7 7 5 Ret 123 9 Alex Barros Yamaha 8 5 5 3 Ret 8 8 DNS Ret 7 11 12 6 15 Ret 6 101 10 Shinya Nakano Yamaha 9 11 8 14 5 5 13 9 7 14 12 8 9 8 7 Ret 101 11 Makoto Tamada Honda Ret 14 6 Ret 4 7 16 13 13 9 10 3 DSQ 10 10 10 87 12 Olivier Jacque Yamaha 15 10 10 4 10 Ret 5 Ret 9 11 13 Ret 13 Ret 6 Ret 71 13 Colin Edwards Aprilia 6 Ret 14 10 9 Ret 7 10 14 12 14 13 17 13 16 8 62 14 Noriyuki Haga Aprilia 12 Ret 11 8 Ret 12 Ret 7 Ret 13 15 14 12 12 14 15 47 15 Marco Melandri Yamaha WD 17 15 11 13 Ret Ret Ret 10 7 11 5 11 Ret 45 16 Norick Abe Yamaha 11 8 11 10 9 31 17 John Hopkins Suzuki 13 13 7 Ret Ret 15 15 11 Ret 17 18 DNS Ret 12 13 29 18 Jeremy McWilliams Proton KR Ret Ret 12 6 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 19 16 Ret 17 11 12 27 19 Kenny Roberts, Jr. Suzuki 14 15 13 16 Ret 15 20 17 17 15 14 9 11 22 20 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda 13 13 11 17 14 18 15 16 15 11 21 19 14 22 21 Nobuatsu Aoki Proton KR Ret 12 9 Ret Ret 16 Ret 15 11 Ret 20 Ret 14 18 18 17 19 22 Garry McCoy Kawasaki 16 17 18 9 15 17 18 16 16 18 Ret Ret Ret 19 13 19 11 23 Alex Hofmann Kawasaki 16 14 10 17 19 8 24 Akira Ryo Suzuki 10 20 6 25 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki Ret 12 4 26 Andrew Pitt Kawasaki 17 16 15 Ret 16 Ret 14 17 19 16 21 18 16 16 15 18 4 Tamaki Serizawa Moriwaki 19 18 0 Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki 18 Ret 0 José David de Gea Sabre V4 Ret 20 DNS 0 Harris WCM 22 19 19 Ret Ret 20 Chris Burns Harris WCM DNS DNS Ret Ret Ret 20 DNQ 0 ROC Yamaha Ret DNQ Ret Daijiro Kato Honda Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

250cc

Results as follows^[3][4]

Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts 1 Manuel Poggiali Aprilia 1 1 4 Ret 1 Ret 4 2 8 3 2 1 3 2 9 3 249 2 Roberto Rolfo Honda 7 5 2 3 4 9 6 5 1 4 4 2 2 4 1 7 235 3 Toni Elías Aprilia Ret 8 1 1 6 4 13 4 7 2 1 18 1 1 11 2 226 4 Randy De Puniet Aprilia Ret 2 3 2 Ret 1 Ret 8 3 1 3 3 6 5 Ret 1 208 5 Fonsi Nieto Aprilia 6 7 7 4 2 2 Ret 1 2 6 9 Ret 8 3 3 5 194 6 Franco Battaini Aprilia 5 3 11 18 3 6 2 7 5 7 6 Ret Ret 6 4 8 148 7 Anthony West Aprilia Ret 6 5 7 9 3 1 3 6 Ret 10 8 Ret 9 2 Ret 145 8 Sebastián Porto Honda 4 4 6 Ret 8 7 5 6 4 5 5 Ret Ret 8 Ret 6 127 9 Naoki Matsudo Yamaha 8 10 8 5 7 5 Ret 9 Ret 9 8 5 7 7 6 11 119 10 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia 10 9 Ret 6 5 8 3 Ret Ret 8 7 4 Ret DNS Ret 4 101 11 Alex Debón Honda 11 Ret 9 8 12 11 11 10 9 WD 11 11 9 Ret 5 10 81 12 Joan Olivé Aprilia 13 Ret 10 10 10 10 23 Ret 17 16 Ret 7 19 14 18 Ret 38 13 Héctor Faubel Aprilia Ret 11 Ret 11 15 Ret 17 20 18 Ret 13 6 Ret Ret 16 Ret 34 14 Chaz Davies Aprilia 18 15 18 Ret 13 Ret 24 13 12 14 20 9 11 20 15 13 33 15 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 2 5 31 16 Erwan Nigon Aprilia 12 17 Ret 17 17 14 7 Ret 14 Ret 16 12 17 Ret 7 Ret 30 17 Alex Baldolini Aprilia Ret 12 12 13 Ret Ret 14 17 10 Ret 14 Ret 13 10 Ret Ret 30 18 Yuki Takahashi Honda 3 4 29 19 Eric Bataille Honda 16 13 13 15 WD Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 12 10 Ret Ret Ret 9 28 20 Johan Stigefelt Aprilia 14 14 Ret 12 Ret 13 10 Ret Ret Ret DNS 13 Ret Ret 10 17 26 21 Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 19 Ret 15 Ret 15 11 13 17 14 14 11 13 12 26 22 Christian Gemmel Honda Ret 18 14 9 16 15 8 Ret Ret 15 15 16 12 16 Ret Ret 24 23 Hugo Marchand Aprilia Ret Ret Ret 14 11 Ret 9 16 Ret 11 Ret Ret 16 13 14 Ret 24 24 Jakub Smrž Honda 15 Ret 17 19 14 Ret 12 14 13 Ret Ret 18 13 14 25 Jaroslav Huleš Yamaha 17 16 16 16 10 Honda 15 Ret 15 8 Ret 26 Tekkyu Kayo Yamaha 9 7 27 Chojun Kameya Honda 10 6 28 Jason Vincent Aprilia 11 5 29 Klaus Nöhles Aprilia 12 15 5 30 Lukáš Pešek Yamaha 16 16 17 Ret 17 Ret Ret 12 19 4 31 Max Neukirchner Honda 15 1 32 Masaki Tokudome Yamaha 15 1 33 Radomil Rous Aprilia Ret 15 1 Henk vd Lagemaat Honda 19 19 20 20 18 18 16 18 Ret Ret 23 19 20 18 17 18 0 Katja Poensgen Honda 20 Ret 17 18 19 18 20 Ret 17 Ret 0 Christian Pistoni Aprilia 19 20 0 Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

125cc

Result as follows^[5][6]

Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts 1 Dani Pedrosa Honda 8 1 4 1 2 1 8 Ret 4 1 4 4 6 1 223 2 Alex de Angelis Aprilia Ret 6 3 Ret 5 3 6 4 3 3 3 3 9 6 7 Ret 166 3 Héctor Barberá Aprilia Ret 13 7 11 9 Ret 3 1 14 5 2 9 1 8 6 3 164 4 Stefano Perugini Aprilia 1 Ret 5 7 7 5 5 3 1 2 Ret 7 4 Ret Ret 13 162 5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda 5 2 9 3 4 Ret 10 2 7 6 8 6 3 13 Ret 8 157 6 Steve Jenkner Aprilia 3 3 2 8 Ret 4 1 Ret Ret Ret Ret 10 5 Ret 3 2 151 7 Pablo Nieto Aprilia 7 5 Ret 5 3 17 2 6 5 Ret 1 5 8 9 Ret 7 148 8 Casey Stoner Aprilia Ret 10 6 4 18 Ret Ret 5 2 2 2 Ret Ret 1 125 9 Lucio Cecchinello Aprilia 4 8 1 2 1 Ret 16 10 8 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 9 112 10 Mirko Giansanti Aprilia 2 15 10 12 11 12 15 11 11 7 10 14 11 7 Ret 5 93 11 Mika Kallio Honda 11 7 16 Ret 13 7 11 7 10 88 KTM 4 Ret 19 7 2 Ret Ret 12 Jorge Lorenzo Derbi Ret 24 15 Ret Ret 6 Ret Ret 21 12 6 1 Ret 3 8 11 79 13 Youichi Ui Aprilia 6 4 8 6 6 Ret 4 Ret Ret 9 76 Gilera DNS 21 17 18 11 Ret 14 Gábor Talmácsi Aprilia 14 Ret Ret Ret Ret 9 9 9 6 11 7 8 14 14 9 12 70 15 Thomas Lüthi Honda 9 17 12 9 15 2 7 22 Ret Ret Ret 15 10 4 16 DNS 68 16 Masao Azuma Honda 17 9 11 10 14 22 Ret 13 Ret 13 13 Ret 13 5 2 15 64 17 Gino Borsoi Aprilia 10 11 13 13 8 8 13 19 17 8 Ret 12 Ret 20 Ret 10 54 18 Arnaud Vincent KTM Ret 12 22 Ret 21 14 Ret 8 Ret 39 Aprilia 5 13 19 16 5 Ret 19 Simone Corsi Honda 12 14 21 14 12 15 Ret 9 Ret 9 22 15 14 Ret 32 20 Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 18 25 17 Ret 28 28 Ret 14 Ret 16 15 16 12 15 4 6 31 21 Marco Simoncelli Aprilia 21 20 14 Ret 17 16 20 16 12 14 Ret 11 Ret 11 Ret 4 31 22 Andrea Ballerini Gilera 19 18 25 Honda Ret Ret Ret 20 19 1 Ret 23 Gioele Pellino Aprilia 15 16 20 Ret 10 11 Ret 12 13 10 Ret 26 Ret Ret Ret Ret 25 24 Roberto Locatelli KTM 23 28 Ret 15 20 10 Ret Ret 18 17 11 17 Ret 10 Ret 17 18 25 Fabrizio Lai Malaguti 16 18 23 Ret Ret 19 14 Ret 15 18 12 24 18 17 13 18 10 26 Robbin Harms Aprilia 25 Ret 16 19 Ret 23 22 21 10 14 8 27 Stefano Bianco Gilera Ret 21 Ret Ret Ret Ret 20 14 20 16 12 15 21 7 28 Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 22 22 28 17 Ret 13 19 15 Ret 15 5 Honda Ret Ret 22 Ret Ret 29 Julián Simón Malaguti 19 27 Ret 20 Ret 24 17 18 20 22 Ret 25 24 25 12 19 4 30 Max Sabbatani Aprilia 13 Ret 24 18 23 21 22 Ret DNS Ret 21 Ret Ret Ret Ret 16 3 31 Emilio Alzamora Derbi Ret 23 18 19 Ret Ret 21 Ret Ret 21 19 Ret Ret 23 14 24 2 Imre Tóth Aprilia 24 Ret 26 23 27 20 23 17 Ret 23 Ret Ret 26 24 Ret 22 0 Péter Lénárt Honda Ret 29 Ret 22 31 26 Ret 20 22 Ret Ret 0 Leon Camier Honda 26 Ret 30 24 30 27 Ret Ret 23 0 Michele Danese Honda 27 Ret 26 17 Ret 0 Christopher Martin Honda 25 26 Ret 21 Ret Ret 0 Sadahito Suma Honda Ret 25 0 Ismael Ortega Aprilia 27 21 20 23 0 Mattia Angeloni Honda 24 16 0 Hiroyuki Kikuchi Honda DNS 0 Pos Rider Bike JPN SAF ESP FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR RIO PAC MAL AUS VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Manufacturers' standings

MotoGP

Pos	Constructor	Pts
1	Honda	395
2	Ducati	225
3	Yamaha	175
4	Aprilia	81
5	Suzuki	43
6	/Proton KR	38
7	Kawasaki	19
	Moriwaki	0
	Harris WCM	0

250cc manufacturers standings

Pos	Constructor	Pts
1	Aprilia	390
2	Honda	252
3	Yamaha	119

125cc manufacturers standings

Pos	Constructor	Pts
1	Aprilia	343
2	Honda	286
3	Derbi	79
4	KTM	66
5	Gilera	11
6	Malaguti	11

Participants

MotoGP participants

Team Constructor Motorcycle Tyre No Rider Rounds Camel Pramac Pons Honda Honda RC211V M 3 Max Biaggi All 11 Tohru Ukawa All Gauloises Yamaha Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 M 4 Alex Barros All 19 Olivier Jacque All Pramac Honda Honda Honda RC211V B 6 Makoto Tamada All Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 M 7 Carlos Checa All 33 Marco Melandri 1, 3–15 17 Norifumi Abe 1–2, 16 Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 M 4, 9 Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki Kawasaki ZX-RR D 8 Garry McCoy All 88 Andrew Pitt All 48 Akira Yanagawa 1, 6 66 Alex Hofmann 3, 5, 7, 9–10 / Proton Team KR Proton KR Proton KR3 Proton KR5 B 9 Nobuatsu Aoki All 99 Jeremy McWilliams All Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki Suzuki GSV-R M 10 Kenny Roberts, Jr. 1–5, 9–16 21 John Hopkins 1–13, 15–16 43 Akira Ryō 13 14 71 Yukio Kagayama 7–8 Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Ducati Desmosedici M 12 Troy Bayliss All 65 Loris Capirossi All Telefónica Movistar Honda Honda Honda RC211V M 15 Sete Gibernau All 74 Daijiro Kato 1 23 Ryuichi Kiyonari 4–16 Moriwaki Racing Moriwaki MD211VF Proto D 25 Tamaki Serizawa 1, 13 WCM Harris WCM Harris WCM D 35 Chris Burns 1, 11–16 ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha 8–10 Sabre V4 Sabre V4 52 José David de Gea 8–10 Harris WCM Harris WCM 11–16 Alice Aprilia Racing Aprilia Aprilia RS Cube M 41 Noriyuki Haga All 45 Colin Edwards All Repsol Honda Honda Honda RC211V M 46 Valentino Rossi All 69 Nicky Hayden All D'Antin Yamaha Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 M 56 Shinya Nakano All

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

References

• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-07. 

1. ↑ Noyes, D. Rossi: Last Honda offer “unacceptable,” but denies “signing with anybody”. SpeedTV.com, 9 October 2003.
2. ↑ Kato inquiry: Racing accident, barriers to blame. Crash.net, 28 November 2003.
3. ↑ http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2003/125cc/VAL/RAC/classification.pdf
4. ↑ http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st19450.php
5. ↑ http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2003/125cc/VAL/world+standing.pdf
6. ↑ http://www.f1network.net/main/s180/st19478.php

Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons
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