2003 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

The 2003 Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 4–6 April 2003 at Suzuka. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Daijiro Kato in the MotoGP race, after he crashed at 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle. Since the accident, Suzuka has been removed from the MotoGP calendar, with the Japanese Grand Prix having been moved to Twin Ring Motegi, the previous home of the Pacific Grand Prix.

Japan  2003 Japanese Grand Prix
Race details
Race 1 of 16 races in the
2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date6 April 2003
Official nameSKYY vodka Grand Prix of Japan[1][2]
LocationSuzuka Circuit
Course
  • Permanent racing facility
  • 5.824 km (3.619 mi)
MotoGP
Pole position
Rider Italy Valentino Rossi Honda
Time 2:06.838
Fastest lap
Rider Italy Valentino Rossi Honda
Time 2:04.970 on lap 6
Podium
First Italy Valentino Rossi Honda
Second Italy Max Biaggi Honda
Third Italy Loris Capirossi Ducati
250 cc
Pole position
Rider Japan Hiroshi Aoyama Honda
Time 2:17.930
Fastest lap
Rider Japan Hiroshi Aoyama Honda
Time 2:09.839 on lap 17
Podium
First San Marino Manuel Poggiali Aprilia
Second Japan Hiroshi Aoyama Honda
Third Japan Yuki Takahashi Honda
125 cc
Pole position
Rider San Marino Alex de Angelis Aprilia
Time 2:15.417
Fastest lap
Rider Italy Stefano Perugini Aprilia
Time 2:14.282 on lap 6
Podium
First Italy Stefano Perugini Aprilia
Second Italy Mirko Giansanti Aprilia
Third Germany Steve Jenkner Aprilia

MotoGP classification

After the Friday timed sessions Norifumi Abe, who was already competing in the event as a wild card entry, was designated as the replacement rider for the injured Marco Melandri.[3]

Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 46 Italy Valentino Rossi Repsol Honda Honda 21 44:13.182 1 25
2 3 Italy Max Biaggi Camel Pramac Pons Honda 21 +6.445 2 20
3 65 Italy Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 21 +8.209 15 16
4 15 Spain Sete Gibernau Telefónica Movistar Honda Honda 21 +13.209 6 13
5 12 Australia Troy Bayliss Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 21 +23.099 13 11
6 45 United States Colin Edwards Alice Aprilia Racing Aprilia 21 +29.040 9 10
7 69 United States Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Honda 21 +29.126 22 9
8 4 Brazil Alex Barros Gauloises Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +30.526 8 8
9 56 Japan Shinya Nakano d'Antín Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +33.447 10 7
10 7 Spain Carlos Checa Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +40.200 4 6
11 17 Japan Norifumi Abe Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +44.790 14 5
12 41 Japan Noriyuki Haga Alice Aprilia Racing Aprilia 21 +1:03.358 17 4
13 21 United States John Hopkins Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 21 +1:03.950 12 3
14 10 United States Kenny Roberts Jr. Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 21 +1:04.085 7 2
15 19 France Olivier Jacque Gauloises Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +1:09.990 21 1
16 8 Australia Garry McCoy Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:16.572 20
17 88 Australia Andrew Pitt Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:17.380 23
18 48 Japan Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:23.605 18
19 25 Japan Tamaki Serizawa Moriwaki Racing WCM MD211VF Proto 21 +1:35.459 16
20 11 Japan Tohru Ukawa Camel Pramac Pons Honda 21 +1:57.128 3
Ret 6 Japan Makoto Tamada Pramac Honda Honda 12 Accident 5
Ret 9 Japan Nobuatsu Aoki Proton Team KR Proton KR 7 Retirement 19
Ret 99 United Kingdom Jeremy McWilliams Proton Team KR Proton KR 6 Accident 24
Ret 74 Japan Daijiro Kato Telefónica Movistar Honda Honda 2 Fatal accident 11
DNS 35 United Kingdom Chris Burns WCM Harris WCM Did not start
Sources: [4][5][6]

250 cc classification
Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 54 San Marino Manuel Poggiali Aprilia 19 41:36.284 23 25
2 92 Japan Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 19 +1.373 1 20
3 72 Japan Yuki Takahashi Honda 19 +1.496 7 16
4 5 Argentina Sebastián Porto Honda 19 +1.700 6 13
5 21 Italy Franco Battaini Aprilia 19 +11.771 16 11
6 10 Spain Fonsi Nieto Aprilia 19 +13.220 9 10
7 3 Italy Roberto Rolfo Honda 19 +13.497 4 9
8 8 Japan Naoki Matsudo Yamaha 19 +14.027 5 8
9 68 Japan Tekkyu Kayoh Yamaha 19 +24.546 12 7
10 50 France Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia 19 +42.722 8 6
11 6 Spain Alex Debón Honda 19 +43.246 3 5
12 36 France Erwan Nigon Aprilia 19 +47.871 21 4
13 11 Spain Joan Olivé Aprilia 19 +1:09.405 30 3
14 16 Sweden Johan Stigefelt Aprilia 19 +1:09.779 13 2
15 96 Czech Republic Jakub Smrž Honda 19 +1:21.048 10 1
16 34 France Eric Bataille Honda 19 +1:21.788 28
17 13 Czech Republic Jaroslav Huleš Yamaha 19 +1:35.538 15
18 57 United Kingdom Chaz Davies Aprilia 19 +1:38.489 29
19 18 Netherlands Henk vd Lagemaat Honda 19 +1:41.507 25
20 98 Germany Katja Poensgen Honda 18 +1 lap 26
Ret 33 Spain Héctor Faubel Aprilia 18 Accident 18
Ret 15 Germany Christian Gemmel Honda 17 Accident 24
Ret 26 Italy Alex Baldolini Aprilia 17 Retirement 11
Ret 14 Australia Anthony West Aprilia 15 Accident 17
Ret 24 Spain Toni Elías Aprilia 14 Retirement 27
Ret 71 Japan Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 10 Accident 2
Ret 7 France Randy de Puniet Aprilia 4 Retirement 20
Ret 28 Germany Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 0 Accident 19
Ret 67 Japan Tomoyoshi Koyama Yamaha 0 Accident 22
Ret 9 France Hugo Marchand Aprilia 0 Retirement 14
Source: [7]

125 cc classification
Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 7 Italy Stefano Perugini Aprilia 18 40:53.083 5 25
2 6 Italy Mirko Giansanti Aprilia 18 +0.037 4 20
3 17 Germany Steve Jenkner Aprilia 18 +1.033 13 16
4 4 Italy Lucio Cecchinello Aprilia 18 +6.701 3 13
5 34 Italy Andrea Dovizioso Honda 18 +8.594 8 11
6 41 Japan Youichi Ui Aprilia 18 +8.940 18 10
7 22 Spain Pablo Nieto Aprilia 18 +9.083 11 9
8 3 Spain Daniel Pedrosa Honda 18 +22.993 2 8
9 12 Switzerland Thomas Lüthi Honda 18 +33.708 17 7
10 23 Italy Gino Borsoi Aprilia 18 +34.234 20 6
11 36 Finland Mika Kallio Honda 18 +34.280 34 5
12 24 Italy Simone Corsi Honda 18 +35.245 28 4
13 11 Italy Max Sabbatani Aprilia 18 +35.818 6 3
14 79 Hungary Gábor Talmácsi Aprilia 18 +35.945 23 2
15 42 Italy Gioele Pellino Aprilia 18 +36.307 22 1
16 32 Italy Fabrizio Lai Malaguti 18 +42.964 21
17 8 Japan Masao Azuma Honda 18 +43.063 30
18 19 Spain Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 18 +51.526 19
19 31 Spain Julián Simón Malaguti 18 +57.880 24
20 65 Japan Toshihisa Kuzuhara Honda 18 +58.129 25
21 58 Italy Marco Simoncelli Aprilia 18 +58.412 15
22 63 France Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 18 +1:16.078 33
23 10 Italy Roberto Locatelli KTM 18 +1:17.164 27
24 25 Hungary Imre Tóth Honda 18 +1:21.140 31
25 14 United Kingdom Chris Martin Aprilia 18 +1:21.384 32
26 21 United Kingdom Leon Camier Honda 18 +1:56.001 36
27 67 Japan Akio Tanaka Honda 17 +1 lap 37
Ret 66 Japan Shuhei Aoyama Honda 17 Retirement 12
Ret 78 Hungary Péter Lénárt Honda 15 Accident 35
Ret 27 Australia Casey Stoner Aprilia 8 Accident 7
Ret 33 Italy Stefano Bianco Gilera 7 Accident 10
Ret 48 Spain Jorge Lorenzo Derbi 7 Retirement 29
Ret 15 San Marino Alex de Angelis Aprilia 6 Accident 1
Ret 1 France Arnaud Vincent KTM 2 Retirement 16
Ret 26 Spain Emilio Alzamora Derbi 2 Retirement 14
Ret 80 Spain Héctor Barberá Aprilia 1 Accident 9
Ret 68 Japan Sadahito Suma Honda 1 Retirement 26
DNQ 64 China Cheung Way On Honda Did not qualify
Source: [8]

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.[9]

  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References
  1. "2003 Japanese MotoGP". Motorsportmagazine.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "Suzuka Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. "Abe replaces Melandri at Fortuna Yamaha". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 5 April 2003. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  4. "2003 Japanese MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
  5. "SKYY Vodka Grand Prix of Japan – MotoGP – Race Classification" (PDF). MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 6 April 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  6. "motogp.com · JAPANESE GRAND PRIX · MotoGP Race Classification 2003". www.motogp.com. Archived from the original on 2021-06-13. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
  7. "SKYY Vodka Grand Prix of Japan – 250cc – Race Classification" (PDF). MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 6 April 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  8. "SKYY Vodka Grand Prix of Japan – 125cc – Race Classification" (PDF). MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 6 April 2003. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  9. "Standings" (PDF). resources.motogp.com. 2003. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
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