Marco Melandri facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marco Melandri
Melandri at the 2005 French motorcycle Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	(1982-08-07) 7 August 1982 (age 43) Ravenna, Italy
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2003–2010, 2015 Manufacturers Yamaha (2003–2004) Honda (2005–2007, 2010) Ducati (2008) Kawasaki (2009) Aprilia (2015) Championships 0 2015 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 139 5 20 0 3 1017 250cc World Championship Active years 2000–2002 Manufacturers Aprilia Championships 1 (2002) 2002 championship position 1st (298 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 47 10 25 3 8 651 125cc World Championship Active years 1997–1999 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 1999 championship position 2nd (226 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 29 7 17 6 5 428 Superbike World Championship Active years 2011–2014, 2017–2019 Manufacturers BMW, Yamaha, Aprilia, Ducati Championships 0 2018 championship position 5th (297 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 201 22 75 4 21 2039.5

Marco Melandri (born August 7, 1982) is a retired Italian motorcycle road racer. He won five races in the top class of motorcycle racing, called MotoGP. He was the 2002 250cc World Champion. He also finished second in the 125cc, MotoGP, and Superbike World Championship series.

Melandri raced in the MotoGP class from 2003 to 2010. He also made a short return in 2015 with Aprilia. His best years in MotoGP were 2005 and 2006. These were the only seasons he won races in MotoGP. In 2005, he finished second to Valentino Rossi, winning two races. The 2006 season was his best, with three wins. He finished just 24 points behind the champion, Nicky Hayden. Marco Melandri has a total of 22 race wins in Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Five of these wins were in MotoGP.

In 2011, Melandri moved to the Superbike World Championship. He won 22 races in his first six seasons there. He always finished among the top five riders. Melandri officially retired from racing after the 2019 Superbike World Championship. He made a brief return to Superbike in 2020 for four races, then retired again.

Marco Melandri's Racing Journey

Starting Out: Early Career

Marco Melandri was born in Ravenna, Italy. He started racing at age six, introduced by former rider Loris Reggiani. He began with minibikes and motocross. Later, he moved to the Italian and European 125cc championships.

In 1997, Melandri won the Italian 125cc championship. He also placed fourth in the European 125cc championship. That same year, he made his first appearance in the 125cc world championship. This happened at Brno, Czech Republic, as a special "wild card" rider.

Racing in the 125cc World Championship

After showing great skill in 1997, Melandri became a regular rider in the 1998 125cc world championship. He rode a Honda 125cc bike for the Benetton Honda Team. He quickly impressed everyone. He earned his first podium finish in the fourth race of the season. He came in second at his home race in Mugello, Italy.

His amazing first season continued when he won his first Grand Prix. This happened at Assen TT, Netherlands. He was only 15 years and 324 days old, making him the youngest Grand Prix winner at that time. He won two Grand Prix races in his first season. He finished third overall, behind champion Kazuto Sakata and Tomomi Manako.

He stayed with the same team and bike in 1999. He aimed to win the 125cc world championship. He won five Grand Prix races but narrowly missed the championship. He finished second to Emilio Alzamora by just one point. Even though he didn't win the title, he moved up to the 250cc world championship in 2000.

Moving Up to the 250cc World Championship

In 2000, Aprilia signed Melandri to replace Valentino Rossi. Rossi had moved from the 250cc class to the 500cc class. People expected Melandri to win the 250cc world championship. However, his first season didn't start as well as expected. He found it hard to get used to the bigger bike and tougher competition. He didn't win any Grand Prix races in 2000. He managed four podium finishes, all late in the season. Despite these challenges, he still finished fifth overall.

In 2001, his performance improved. He won his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring, Germany. This was his only win that year. He reached the podium nine times but didn't truly challenge for the championship. He finished third, behind champion Daijiro Kato and Tetsuya Harada.

The year 2002 was Melandri's big chance. The 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada, had moved to the MotoGP class. This made Melandri the top contender for the championship. He dominated the season, winning nine races and getting three more podiums. After years of trying, he finally won the 250cc world title. He became the youngest 250cc world champion at 20 years and 74 days old. This record was later broken by Dani Pedrosa in 2004.

MotoGP World Championship Adventures

After winning the 250cc world title in 2002, Melandri moved up to the MotoGP class. He joined the Yamaha factory team with Carlos Checa in 2003. The Yamaha bike was not as strong as the Honda and Ducati bikes. Even though Melandri sometimes showed good speed, he struggled to get good results. He finished the season in fifteenth place, without any wins or podiums.

In 2004, he joined Yamaha's satellite team, Tech3, alongside Norick Abe. This move was made to make room for Valentino Rossi at the factory team. Again, Melandri struggled to get top results. He managed two podium finishes in a row. However, many crashes and retirements kept him out of the top 10 overall. He finished the season in twelfth place.

After his Yamaha contract ended in 2004, Melandri surprisingly joined the Movistar Honda team for 2005. He raced alongside Sete Gibernau. Melandri did very well with Movistar Honda in 2005. He consistently finished on the podium early in the season. He then won his first two MotoGP races in the final two rounds of 2005. These wins were in Istanbul and Valencia. He was the first Honda rider to win back-to-back races in almost two years. He finished the season strongly as the runner-up, with two wins and five other podiums.

Melandri rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team with Toni Elías in the 2006 season. With Rossi having some trouble, Melandri became a main challenger. Other strong riders included Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. Melandri won again in Istanbul, even though he started from fourteenth place. He also won races at Le Mans, France, and Phillip Island, Australia. He finished the season in fourth place, just one point behind Capirossi.

Melandri at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix

In 2007, Melandri and Elias stayed with the Honda Gresini team. Honda's new 800cc bike was not very competitive. Melandri still managed to get on the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Le Mans. At that point, he and factory rider Dani Pedrosa were the only Honda riders with multiple podiums. He finished fifth overall, the second-best Honda rider after Pedrosa.

After his third-place finish in the 2007 USA MotoGP race, Ducati announced that Melandri would join their factory team. He would race alongside Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009. However, 2008 was a very difficult year for him. He often finished behind the semi-works Alice Team bikes. At Assen, he qualified last and stayed there throughout the race. A rumored move to Kawasaki in the middle of the season didn't happen. However, Melandri announced on August 19 that he would join Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2009 MotoGP season. He would ride with his new teammate John Hopkins. He ended the 2008 season in a disappointing 17th place.

Melandri at the 2009 British Grand Prix.

Kawasaki stopped its factory involvement for 2009. This made people worry that Melandri wouldn't have a ride. But a plan was made for Melandri to ride the bike for a one-bike semi-works Hayate Racing team. He was concerned about the bike's poor grip at the back. In 2009, Melandri achieved his first podium since 2007. He finished second at the wet French motorcycle Grand Prix. His only other top six finishes were in the first three races. The team stopped developing the bike, and Melandri finished tenth overall.

For 2010, Melandri returned to Gresini Honda. He had a factory-spec RC212V bike from the start. Full factory support had been promised before but not given. The team made mistakes with the bike's setup during initial testing.

Superbike World Championship Success

Melandri moved to the Superbike World Championship in 2011. He joined the Yamaha World Superbike Team, replacing Cal Crutchlow. Crutchlow had moved to the Tech3 team in MotoGP.

On October 2, 2011, Melandri signed a contract to ride with the BMW World Superbike team for the 2012 season. This happened after Yamaha decided not to continue with a factory team after 2011. Melandri achieved BMW's best result at the time in the Superbike World Championship. He finished second in the first race of the season at Phillip Island, even though he started 13th. He had mixed results at other races. But Melandri achieved BMW's first Superbike World Championship victory at Donington Park. He led teammate Leon Haslam for a 1-2 finish. Melandri and Haslam crashed in the second race, stopping BMW from winning both races that weekend. From then on, Melandri won races at Miller Motorsports Park, Motorland Aragón, and two races at Brno. This brought him within 21 points of the championship leader, Max Biaggi.

On July 16, 2020, it was announced that Melandri would replace Leon Camier at the Barni Ducati Racing Team for the rest of the 2020 season. Camier had not recovered from a shoulder injury. In September 2020, Melandri announced his retirement again. This was due to his disappointing results and the Barni team's hope for better success with a younger rider.

Brief Return to MotoGP

In November 2014, it was announced that Melandri would return to Gresini. This was Aprilia's factory team for the 2015 season. However, he failed to score any points in the first eight races. Melandri then left the team and was replaced by other riders.

Car Racing Experience

Besides motorcycle racing, Melandri also competed in car racing. He raced in two rounds of the 2008-09 Speedcar Series season. He scored two points from the four races he competed in.

Career Statistics

Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing Summary

By Season

By Class

Superbike World Championship Summary

By Season

See also

In Spanish: Marco Melandri para niños