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Marco Melandri
Italian motorcycle racer

Marco Melandri

The basics

Quick Facts

Intro
Italian motorcycle racer
Places
Work field
Gender
Male
Place of birth
Ravenna
Age
42 years
Residence
Ravenna
Marco Melandri
The details (from wikipedia)

Biography

Marco Melandri (born August 7, 1982) is an Italian motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the Superbike World Championship. Melandri is also a former 250cc World Champion in 2002, which he followed up by finishing second overall in MotoGP in 2005. Melandri currently lives 2 miles away from the famous race track, Donington Park, Leicestershire, England.

Career

Early days

Melandri was born in Ravenna. He was introduced to racing by a former rider Loris Reggiani at the age of six. He came through the ranks from minibikes, motocross and then the Italian and European 125cc championship.

In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship, also finishing 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.

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 Benetton Honda Team. He went on to impress many as he earned his first podium in the fourth race of the season, where he finished second in his home Grand Prix at Mugello, Italy. His brilliant debut season continued 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 made him the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, at the time. Overall, he won two Grand Prix in his debut season and therefore he finished the season at 3rd position in overall standings 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 win 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.

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 broke his record in 2004.

MotoGP (2003–2010)

After securing the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to MotoGP class to spearhead Yamaha factory team alongside Carlos Checa in 2003 replacing the departing Max Biaggi. The Yamaha was less competitive than Honda and Ducati, and he struggled to succeed for the season. He finished the season in fifteenth position without collecting any wins.

He joined Yamaha satellite team, Tech 3 in 2004 alongside Norick Abe. This season, he again struggled to get top results. Although he managed to collect two consecutive podiums, a series of crashes and retirements kept him out of the top 10 in overall standings. He finished the season in twelfth position.

Released from his Yamaha contract after the 2004 season, Melandri was the surprise choice of boss Fausto Gresini to join Sete Gibernau in the Movistar Honda team for the 2005 MotoGP campaign. Melandri was remarkably successful with Movistar Honda in 2005, with a consistent run of podium finishes early in the season, ultimately taking his first two wins in the final two races of 2005 to clinch second place in the championship. In doing so, he was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races for nearly two years, winning the final two rounds of the MotoGP Championship at Istanbul, Turkey, and in Valencia. Although he never really challenged his best friend Valentino Rossi for the title, he finished the season strongly as runner-up, with a total of two wins and five other podiums.

Melandri rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team alongside Toni Elías in the 2006 season. With Rossi struggling to find consistency, he was a major challenger, along with Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. He again won at Istanbul, despite starting from fourteenth on the grid. He managed further wins at Le Mans, France and Phillip Island, Australia. He finished the season in fourth position, just one point behind Capirossi.

In 2007, Melandri and Elias remained in the Honda Gresini team, now sponsored by Hannspree. Honda's 800cc machine was not competitive. Melandri finished on the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Le Mans – at this point he and works rider Dani Pedrosa were the only Honda riders with multiple podiums. He ultimately finished fifth overall, second only to Pedrosa among the Honda riders.

Melandri at the 2009 British Grand Prix.

Immediately after Melandri's 3rd-place finish in the 2007 USA's MotoGP round, Ducati announced that he would join its factory team alongside Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009. But 2008 proved disastrous, with a run of uncompetitive runs often leaving him behind the semi-works Alice Team bikes of Toni Elías and Sylvain Guintoli. At Assen he qualified last and ran there throughout. A rumoured mid-season move to Kawasaki did not occur, however Melandri announced that he would be joining Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2009 MotoGP season to ride alongside his new team-mate John Hopkins on 19 August. He then ended the season in a lacklustre 17th position.

Kawasaki pulled its factory involvement for 2009, leading to fears that Melandri would not have a ride, however a rescue package was agreed to allow Melandri to run the bike for a one-bike semi-works Hayate Racing team, despite his concerns over the bike's poor rear traction. In 2009 Melandri achieved his first podium since 2007 with his 2nd-place finish at the wet French motorcycle Grand Prix. His only other top six finishes were in the first three races, as the team tailed off bike development and Melandri finished tenth overall. At Brno he battled Mika Kallio for sixth before a penultimate-lap collision between the two.

For 2010, Melandri returned to Gresini Honda, with a factory-spec RC212V bike from the start. Full factory support had sometimes been promised, but not provided, during his first Gresini spell. The team made set-up errors in its initial testing.

Superbike World Championship

Melandri moved to the Superbike World Championship from 2011 with the Yamaha World Superbike Team, replacing Cal Crutchlow, who moved to the Tech 3 team in MotoGP.

On 2 October 2011, Melandri signed a contract to ride with the BMW World Superbike team for the 2012 season, after Yamaha elected not to continue with a factory team after the 2011 season. Melandri achieved BMW's best result, at the time, in the Superbike World Championship, with a second place in the season-opening race at Phillip Island, having started 13th on the grid. Mixed results followed at Imola, Assen and Monza, but Melandri achieved BMW's first Superbike World Championship victory at the European round at Donington Park, leading home team-mate Leon Haslam in a 1–2 finish. Melandri and Haslam collided in the meeting's second race, denying a weekend sweep for BMW. From that point, Melandri won races at Miller Motorsports Park, Motorland Aragón and a double at Brno, to move within 21 points of the championship lead held by Max Biaggi.

Return to MotoGP

In November 2014, it was announced that Melandri would return to Gresini, Aprilia's factory team for the 2015 season. However, after failing to score a point in the first eight races of the season, Melandri left the team and was replaced by Michael Laverty and then by Stefan Bradl.

Car racing

In addition to his motorcycle racing career, Melandri has also competed in car racing. He raced in two rounds of the 2008-09 Speedcar Series season, scoring two points from the four races.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

SeasClassMotorcycleTeamRaceWinPodPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh
1997125ccHonda RS125R100000NC0
1998125ccHonda RS125RBenetton Matteoni1428312023rd0
1999125ccHonda RS125RBenetton Playlife1459342262nd0
2000250ccAprilia RSV250Blu Aprilia Team1604101595th0
2001250ccAprilia RSV250MS Aprilia Racing1519041943rd0
2002250ccAprilia RSV250MS Aprilia Racing16912242981st1
2003MotoGPYamaha YZR-M1Fortuna Yamaha1300004515th0
2004MotoGPYamaha YZR-M1Fortuna Tech 31502007512th0
2005MotoGPHonda RC211VMovistar Honda MotoGP1727032202nd0
2006MotoGPHonda RC211VFortuna Honda Gresini1737002284th0
2007MotoGPHonda RC212VGresini Racing1703001875th0
2008MotoGPDucati Desmosedici GP8Ducati Marlboro1800005117th0
2009MotoGPKawasaki Ninja ZX-RRHayate Racing Team17010010810th0
2010MotoGPHonda RC212VSan Carlo Honda Gresini Team17000010310th0
2015MotoGPAprilia RS-GPAprilia Racing Team Gresini800000NC0
Total215226291620961

By class

ClassSeas1st GP1st Pod1st WinRaceWinPodPoleFLapPtsWCh
125cc1997–19991997 Czech Republic1998 Italy1998 Netherlands29717654280
250cc2000–20022000 South Africa2000 Portugal2001 Germany471025386511
MotoGP2003–2010, 20152003 Japan2004 Catalunya2005 Turkey1395200310170
Total1997–2010, 2015215226291620961

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearClassBike123456789101112131415161718PosPts
1997125ccHondaMALJPNSPAITAAUTFRANEDIMOGERBRAGBRCZE
17
CATINDAUSNC0
1998125ccHondaJPN
10
MAL
Ret
SPA
10
ITA
2
FRA
2
MAD
2
NED
1
GBR
4
GER
13
CZE
1
IMO
2
CAT
8
AUS
3
ARG
2
3rd202
1999125ccHondaMALJPNSPA
Ret
FRA
6
ITA
2
CAT
3
NED
8
GBR
5
GER
1
CZE
1
IMO
1
VAL
Ret
AUS
1
RSA
3
BRA
2
ARG
1
2nd226
2000250ccApriliaRSA
13
MAL
5
JPN
5
SPA
6
FRA
4
ITA
4
CAT
6
NED
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
4
POR
3
VAL
3
BRA
3
PAC
3
AUS
5
5th159
2001250ccApriliaJPN
6
RSA
2
SPA
3
FRA
3
ITA
3
CAT
Ret
NED
6
GBR
3
GER
1
CZE
2
POR
2
VAL
Ret
PAC
Ret
AUSMAL
11
BRA
2
3rd194
2002250ccApriliaJPN
Ret
RSA
1
SPA
Ret
FRA
2
ITA
1
CAT
1
NED
1
GBR
1
GER
1
CZE
1
POR
2
BRA
4
PAC
2
MAL
Ret
AUS
1
VAL
1
1st298
2003MotoGPYamahaJPN
WD
RSASPA
17
FRA
15
ITA
11
CAT
13
NED
Ret
GBR
Ret
GER
Ret
CZE
10
POR
7
BRA
11
PAC
5
MAL
11
AUS
Ret
VAL15th45
2004MotoGPYamahaRSA
11
SPA
Ret
FRA
6
ITA
9
CAT
3
NED
3
BRA
13
GER
Ret
GBRCZE
9
POR
Ret
JPN
5
QAT
Ret
MAL
Ret
AUS
Ret
VAL
Ret
12th75
2005MotoGPHondaSPA
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
2nd220
2006MotoGPHondaSPA
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
4th228
2007MotoGPHondaQAT
5
SPA
8
CHN
5
TUR
5
FRA
2
ITA
9
CAT
9
GBR
10
NED
10
GER
6
USA
3
CZERSM
4
POR
5
JPN
5
AUS
10
MAL
2
VAL
4
5th187
2008MotoGPDucatiQAT
11
SPA
12
POR
13
CHN
5
FRA
15
ITA
Ret
CAT
11
GBR
16
NED
13
GER
Ret
USA
16
CZE
7
SMR
9
IND
19
JPN
13
AUS
16
MAL
16
VAL
16
17th51
2009MotoGPKawasakiQAT
14
JPN
6
SPA
5
FRA
2
ITA
11
CAT
14
NED
12
USA
10
GER
7
GBR
7
CZE
Ret
IND
Ret
SMR
8
POR
12
AUS
7
MAL
8
VAL
17
10th108
2010MotoGPHondaQAT
13
SPA
8
FRA
6
ITA
5
GBR
Ret
NED
DNS
CAT
9
GER
10
USA
8
CZE
8
IND
Ret
SMR
10
ARA
9
JPN
11
MAL
9
AUS
9
POR
9
VAL
13
10th103
2015MotoGPApriliaQAT
21
AME
Ret
ARG
20
SPA
19
FRA
18
ITA
18
CAT
Ret
NED
19
GERINDCZEGBRRSMARAJPNAUSMALVALNC0

Superbike World Championship

By season

SeasMotoTeamRaceWinPodPoleFLapPtsPlcdWCh
2011Yamaha YZF-R1Yamaha World Superbike Team26415133952nd
2012BMW S1000RRBMW Motorrad Motorsport2561104328.53rd
2013BMW S1000RRBMW Motorrad Motorsport26312023594th
2014Aprilia RSV4Aprilia Racing Team24611033334th
Total10019491121415.5

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

YearMake1234567891011121314PosPts
R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2R1R2
2011YamahaAUS
5
AUS
3
EUR
1
EUR
2
NED
4
NED
Ret
ITA
4
ITA
2
USA
10
USA
6
SMR
3
SMR
Ret
SPA
1
SPA
2
CZE
1
CZE
2
GBR
3
GBR
3
GER
2
GER
6
ITA
8
ITA
6
FRA
2
FRA
2
POR
6
POR
1
2nd395
2012BMWAUS
2
AUS
6
ITA
6
ITA
10
NED
9
NED
4
ITA
C
ITA
4
EUR
1
EUR
Ret
USA
2
USA
1
SMR
Ret
SMR
4
SPA
2
SPA
1
CZE
1
CZE
1
GBR
7
GBR
8
RUS
2
RUS
1
GER
Ret
GER
Ret
POR
Ret
POR
DNS
FRA
2
FRA
Ret
3rd328.5
2013BMWAUS
Ret
AUS
3
SPA
3
SPA
5
NED
Ret
NED
8
ITA
1
ITA
2
GBR
2
GBR
5
POR
1
POR
12
ITA
4
ITA
4
RUS
1
RUS
C
GBR
9
GBR
9
GER
2
GER
3
TUR
2
TUR
4
USA
4
USA
3
FRA
5
FRA
7
SPA
2
SPA
DNS
4th359
2014ApriliaAUS
2
AUS
8
SPA
11
SPA
3
NED
6
NED
6
ITA
6
ITA
11
GBR
4
GBR
17
MAL
1
MAL
1
SMR
3
SMR
3
POR
4
POR
Ret
USA
1
USA
Ret
SPA
1
SPA
1
FRA
2
FRA
1
QAT
8
QAT
4
4th333

The contents of this page are sourced from Wikipedia article. The contents are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
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