2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 2003 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 55th F.I.M. Road racing World Championship season.

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.

Daijiro Kato died 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.

Grands Prix

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	MotoGP winner	Report
1	April 6	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	Stefano Perugini	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
2	April 27	South African Grand Prix	Phakisa	Dani Pedrosa	Manuel Poggiali	Sete Gibernau	Report
3	May 11	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Lucio Cecchinello	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
4	May 25	French Grand Prix	Le Mans	Dani Pedrosa	Toni Elías	Sete Gibernau	Report
5	June 8	Italian Grand Prix	Mugello	Lucio Cecchinello	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
6	June 15	Catalan Grand Prix	Catalunya	Dani Pedrosa	Randy de Puniet	Loris Capirossi	Report
7	June 28	Dutch TT	Assen	Steve Jenkner	Anthony West	Sete Gibernau	Report
8	July 13	British Grand Prix	Donington Park	Héctor Barberá	Fonsi Nieto	Max Biaggi	Report
9	July 27	German Grand Prix	Sachsenring	Stefano Perugini	Roberto Rolfo	Sete Gibernau	Report
10	August 17	Czech Republic Grand Prix	Brno	Dani Pedrosa	Randy de Puniet	Valentino Rossi	Report
11	September 7	Portuguese Grand Prix	Estoril	Pablo Nieto	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
12	September 20	Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix	Rio de Janeiro	Jorge Lorenzo	Manuel Poggiali	Valentino Rossi	Report
13	October 5	Pacific Grand Prix	Motegi	Héctor Barberá	Toni Elías	Max Biaggi	Report
14	October 12	Malaysian Grand Prix	Sepang	Dani Pedrosa	Toni Elías	Valentino Rossi	Report
15	October 19	Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island	Andrea Ballerini	Roberto Rolfo	Valentino Rossi	Report
16	November 2	Valencian Grand Prix	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 Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda 13 13 11 17 14 18 15 16 15 11 21 19 14 22 20 Kenny Roberts, Jr. Suzuki 14 15 13 16 Ret 15 20 17 17 15 14 9 11 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 Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Not classified (NC) Purple Did not finish (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 Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

250cc

Pos	Rider	Team	Pts
1	Manuel Poggiali	MS Aprilia	249
2	Roberto Rolfo	Fortuna Honda	235
3	Toni Elías	Repsol Telefónica Aprilia	226
4	Randy de Puniet	Safilo Oxydo Race LCR Aprilia	208
5	Fonsi Nieto	Repsol Telefónica Aprilia	194
6	Franco Battaini	Campetella Aprilia	148
7	Anthony West	Zoppini Abruzzo Aprilia	145
8	Sebastián Porto	Telefónica movistar Honda	127
9	Naoki Matsudo	Yamaha Kurz	119
10	Sylvain Guintoli	Campetella Aprilia	101
11	Alex Debón	Troll Honda BQR	81
12	Joan Olivé	Aspar Junior Aprilia	38
13	Héctor Faubel	Aspar Junior Aprilia	34
14	Chaz Davies	Aprilia Germany	33
15	Hiroshi Aoyama	Honda	31
16	Alex Baldolini	Matteoni Aprilia	30
17	Erwan Nigon	Equipe de France SCRAB GP Aprilia	30
18	Yuki Takahashi	Miu Honda Racing Team HRC	29
19	Eric Bataille	Troll Honda BQR Honda	28
20	Dirk Heidolf	Aprilia Germany	26
21	Johan Stigefelt	Zoppini Abruzzo Aprilia	26
22	Christian Gemmel	Kiefer Castrol-Honda	24
23	Hugo Marchand	Equipe de France SCRAB GP Aprilia	24
24	Jakub Smrž	Elit Grand Prix / Dartk Dog Molenaar Honda	14
25	Jaroslav Hules	Yamaha Kurz / Elit Grand Prix Honda	10
26	Tekkyu Kayo	Yamaha	7
27	Chojun Kameya	Honda	6
28	Klaus Nöhles	Aprilia Germany	5
29	Jason Vincent	Aprilia	5
30	Lukáš Pešek	Yamaha Kurz	4
31	Max Neukirchner	Honda	1
32	Radomil Rous	Aprilia	1
33	Masaki Tokudome	Yamaha	1

125cc

Pos	Rider	Team	Pts
1	Dani Pedrosa	Telefónica movistar Honda	223
2	Alex de Angelis	Racing World Aprilia	166
3	Héctor Barberá	Master MX Onda Aspar Aprilia	164
4	Stefano Perugini	Abruzzo Racing Aprilia	162
5	Andrea Dovizioso	Scot Honda	157
6	Steve Jenkner	Exalt Cycle Aprilia	151
7	Pablo Nieto	Master MX Onda Aspar Aprilia	148
8	Casey Stoner	Safilo Oxydo Race LCR Aprilia	125
9	Lucio Cecchinello	Safilo Oxydo Race LCR Aprilia	112
10	Mirko Giansanti	Matteoni Aprilia	93
11	Mika Kallio	Ajo Motosport Honda / Red Bull KTM	88
12	Jorge Lorenzo	Caja Madrid Derbi	79
13	Youichi Ui	Sterilgarda Racing Aprilia / Freesoul Racing Gilera	76
14	Gábor Talmácsi	Exalt Cycle Aprilia	70
15	Thomas Lüthi	Elit Grand Prix Honda	68
16	Masao Azuma	Ajo Motosport Honda	64
17	Gino Borsoi	Racing World Aprilia	54
18	Arnaud Vincent	Red Bull KTM / Sterilgarda Racing Aprilia	39
19	Simone Corsi	Scot Honda	32
20=	Álvaro Bautista	Seedorf Racing Aprilia	31
20=	Marco Simoncelli	Matteoni Racing Aprilia	31
22=	Andrea Ballerini	Gilera / Metasystem Rg Service Honda / Ajo Motosport Honda	25
22=	Gioele Pellino	Sterilgarda Racing Aprilia	25
24	Roberto Locatelli	Red Bull KTM	18
25	Fabrizio Lai	Semprucci Malaguti	10
26	Robbin Harms	Seedorf Racing Aprilia	8
27	Stefano Bianco	Gilera	7
28	Mike Di Meglio	63- Freesoul Racing Team Aprilia / Metasystem Rg Service Honda	5
29	Julián Simón	Semprucci Malaguti	4
30	Max Sabbatani	Abruzzo Aprilia	3
31	Emilio Alzamora	Caja Madrid Derbi	2

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

250cc manufacturers standings

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

125cc manufacturers standings

Pos	Constructor	Pts
1	Aprilia	338
2	Honda	291
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 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 RS3 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". http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics/2003/NAT/500cc/World+Standing. Retrieved 2010-07-07. 

1. ^ Noyes, D. Rossi: Last Honda offer “unacceptable,” but denies “signing with anybody”. SpeedTV.com, October 9, 2003.
2. ^ Kato inquiry: Racing accident, barriers to blame. Crash.net, November 28, 2003.

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