Marco Melandri facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Marco Melandri |
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Melandri at the 2005 French motorcycle Grand Prix
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| Nationality | Italian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 7 August 1982 Ravenna, Italy |
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Marco Melandri (born 7 August 1982) is an Italian retired motorcycle racer. He won five top-level MotoGP races during his career. Marco was the 250cc World Champion in 2002. He also finished second in the 125cc, MotoGP, and Superbike World Championship series. He raced in the MotoGP class from 2003 to 2010, and then again briefly in 2015 with Aprilia.
Marco Melandri's best years in MotoGP were in 2005 and 2006. These were the only seasons he won MotoGP races. In 2005, he finished second to Valentino Rossi, winning two races. The 2006 season was his strongest. He won three races and finished just 24 points behind the champion, Nicky Hayden. Marco has a total of 22 wins in motorcycle Grand Prix races, including five in MotoGP.
In 2011, Marco switched to the Superbike World Championship. He won 22 races in his first six seasons. He always finished among the top five riders. Marco Melandri officially retired from racing after the 2019 Superbike World Championship. He made a short return to Superbike in 2020 for four races before retiring again.
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Marco Melandri's Racing Journey
Starting Young in Racing
Marco Melandri was born in Ravenna, Italy. A former racer, Loris Reggiani, introduced him to racing when he was just six years old. Marco started in minibikes and motocross. Then he moved up to the Italian and European 125cc championships.
In 1997, Marco won the Italian 125cc championship. He also finished fourth in the European 125cc championship. That same year, he made his first appearance in the 125cc world championship. This happened at Brno in the Czech Republic as a special "wild card" rider.
Racing in the 125cc Class
After doing well in the Italian and European championships, Marco got a chance to race full-time. He joined the 1998 125cc world championship. He rode a Honda 125cc bike for the Benetton Honda Team. Marco quickly impressed everyone. He earned his first podium finish in the fourth race of the season. He finished second at his home race in Mugello, Italy.
His amazing first season continued when he won his first Grand Prix. This was at Assen TT in the Netherlands. He was only 15 years and 324 days old when he won. This made him the youngest Grand Prix winner at that time. Overall, he won two Grand Prix races in his first season. He finished the season in third place overall. The champion was Kazuto Sakata, and Tomomi Manako was second.
Marco stayed with the same bike and team in 1999. He aimed to win the 125cc world championship. He won five Grand Prix races that year. However, he did not win the championship. He finished second, just one point behind Emilio Alzamora. Even though he didn't win the title, his success helped him move up. He moved to the 250cc world championship in 2000.
Conquering the 250cc Class
In 2000, Aprilia signed Marco Melandri. He replaced Valentino Rossi, who moved to a different class. Everyone expected Marco to do as well as Rossi and win the 250cc world championship. However, his first season was not as good as expected. He found it hard to get used to the bigger bike and tougher competition. He did not win any Grand Prix races in 2000. He only managed four podium finishes, all late in the season. Despite these challenges, he still finished the season in fifth place overall.
In 2001, Marco's performance got better. He won his first 250cc Grand Prix at Sachsenring, Germany. But this was his only win that year. He finished on the podium nine times. Still, he never truly fought for the championship. He ended the season in third place. Daijiro Kato was the champion, and Tetsuya Harada was second.
The year 2002 was Marco Melandri's chance to shine. The 2001 champion and runner-up, Kato and Harada, had moved to the MotoGP class. This made Marco the top contender for the championship. He dominated the season, winning nine races. He also had three other podium finishes. After trying for years, he finally won the 250cc world title. He became the youngest 250cc world champion. He was 20 years and 74 days old. Dani Pedrosa later broke his record in 2004.
Competing in MotoGP
After winning the 250cc world title in 2002, Marco Melandri moved up. He joined the MotoGP class in 2003. He led the Yamaha factory team with Carlos Checa. The Yamaha bike was not as strong as Honda or Ducati. Marco sometimes showed good speed. However, he struggled to get good results. He finished the season in fifteenth place. He did not win any races or get any podiums.
In 2004, he joined Yamaha's satellite team, Tech3. This move made space for Valentino Rossi to join the factory team. Marco again struggled to get top results. He managed to get two podium finishes in a row. But many crashes and retirements kept him out of the top 10. He finished the season in twelfth place.
After the 2004 season, Yamaha let Marco go. Fausto Gresini, the team boss, surprisingly chose Marco to join Sete Gibernau. They would race for the Movistar Honda team in 2005. Marco did very well with Movistar Honda in 2005. He had many podium finishes early in the season. He then won his first two races in the final two rounds of 2005. This helped him secure second place in the championship. He was the first Honda rider in almost two years to win back-to-back races. He won the last two races in Istanbul and Valencia. He finished the season as runner-up to his friend Valentino Rossi. He had two wins and five other podiums.
In 2006, Marco rode for Gresini's Fortuna Honda team with Toni Elías. Valentino Rossi was having trouble being consistent. So, Marco became a main challenger. Other strong riders were Ducati's Loris Capirossi and Honda riders Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa. Marco won again at 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.
In 2007, Marco and Elias stayed with the Honda Gresini team. Their new sponsor was Hannspree. Honda's 800cc bike was not very competitive. Marco finished on the podium at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Le Mans. At this point, he and factory rider Dani Pedrosa were the only Honda riders with multiple podiums. He ended up finishing fifth overall. He was second only to Pedrosa among the Honda riders.
Right after Marco finished third in the 2007 USA's MotoGP race, Ducati announced something big. Marco would join their factory team with Casey Stoner for 2008 and 2009. But 2008 was a very tough year. He often finished behind the other bikes. At Assen, he started last and stayed there. There were rumors of a move to Kawasaki, but it didn't happen. However, Marco announced he would join Kawasaki Racing Team for the 2009 MotoGP season. His new teammate would be John Hopkins. He finished the 2008 season in a disappointing 17th place.
Kawasaki stopped its factory involvement for 2009. This made people worry that Marco would not have a ride. But a plan was made for Marco to race the bike for a special team called Hayate Racing. This team had only one bike. Marco was worried about the bike's poor grip. In 2009, Marco got 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 Marco finished tenth overall. At Brno, he crashed with Mika Kallio near the end of the race.
For 2010, Marco Melandri returned to Gresini Honda. He had a top-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 early tests.
Superbike Racing Adventures
In 2011, Marco Melandri moved to the Superbike World Championship. He joined the Yamaha World Superbike Team. He replaced Cal Crutchlow, who moved to MotoGP.
On October 2, 2011, Marco signed a contract to ride for the BMW World Superbike team for 2012. Yamaha decided not to continue with a factory team after 2011. Marco achieved BMW's best result at the time in the Superbike World Championship. He finished second in the first race at Phillip Island. He had started 13th on the grid. He had mixed results at other races. But Marco achieved BMW's first Superbike World Championship win. This was at the European round at Donington Park. He led his teammate Leon Haslam to a one-two finish. Marco and Haslam crashed in the second race, stopping BMW from winning both races that weekend. After that, Marco won races at Miller Motorsports Park, Motorland Aragón, and two races at Brno. This put him within 21 points of the championship leader, Max Biaggi.
On July 16, 2020, it was announced that Marco would replace Leon Camier. He joined the Barni Ducati Racing Team for the rest of the 2020 season. Camier had not recovered from a shoulder injury.
In September 2020, Marco announced his retirement again. This was midway through the season. His results were not as good as hoped. The Barni team wanted to find more success with their younger rider, Samuele Cavalieri.
A Brief Return to MotoGP
In November 2014, it was announced that Marco Melandri would return to Gresini. This was Aprilia's factory team for the 2015 season. However, he did not score any points in the first eight races. Marco then left the team. He was replaced by Michael Laverty and then by Stefan Bradl.
Trying Out Car Racing
Besides his motorcycle racing, Marco Melandri also raced cars. He competed in two rounds of the 2008-09 Speedcar Series season. He scored two points from the four races he participated in.
Images for kids
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Marco Melandri at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix
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Marco Melandri at the 2009 British Grand Prix.
See also
In Spanish: Marco Melandri para niños
