Loris Capirossi

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Loris Capirossi

Nationality	Italian
Birthdate	Template:Birth date and age
Birthplace	Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna
Bike number	65
Current team	Rizla Suzuki MotoGP
Championships	125cc - 1990, 1991 250cc - 1998
Race Starts	266
Race Wins	29
Podiums	98
Poles	41
Fastest laps	32
Points	2875
Last season	2008
Last position	9th (51 pts) - In Progress

Loris Capirossi (born April 4 1973) is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who currently rides for the factory Suzuki MotoGP team. He is a former 250cc World Champion for Aprilia.

Biography

Capirossi was born in Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna.

250cc career

Capirossi moved up to 250cc class for the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season on a year-old bike. He led the championship in both 1993 and 1994 without winning it.

500cc career

The 1995 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was Capirossi's first season in the top-level 500cc championship, aboard a Pileri Honda, often qualifying better than he raced but still taking 6th in the series, before taking a win in 1996 for Wayne Rainey's Yamaha team.

Return to 250cc

Capirossi returned to 250cc championship for 1997, battling his Aprilia team-mate, Tetsuya Harada down to the final race of the 1998 season when the two riders were involved in a controversial incident in Argentina. Harada was leading the race into the final corner of the final lap when Harada's bike was rammed from behind by Capirossi's machine, sending the Japanese rider off the track. Valentino Rossi would pass both riders for the victory. Capirossi recovered to claim second place and the world championship but, Aprilia would release him during the off-season.

MotoGP

Capirossi returned to the 500cc championship for 2000, and has been there through its evolution to today's 800cc four-stroke MotoGP bikes. He won his home race in 2000, and 3 more en route to 3rd overall in 2001. 2002 was a less competitive year, hampered by a wrist injury. He was not given access to Honda's 4-stroke machine in late 2002 when team-mate Alex Barros was, as he was already to leave the team.

In 2003 he joined Ducati, taking their first win at Barcelona and 4th overall, before a slightly disappointing 2004 on a bike with huge straight line speed but a lack of grip. Still, he stayed on the bike more often than team-mate Troy Bayliss, and thus stayed in the team for a 2005 season which saw him become competitive by the end of the year, aided by improving Bridgestone tyres.

Capirossi at the 2005 Malaysian Grand Prix with Ducati (2003-2007).

Capirossi and Ducati started the 2006 season with a striking victory and he had a second place in both the French and Italian grand prix, tying for first in Moto GP points with American Nicky Hayden. However, he was caught up in a multiple bike collision at the start at Barcelona, missing the restart and losing championship ground to Hayden. Though he was knocked out in this horrendous looking accident, he did not suffer very serious injuries beyond significant bruising. He returned for the next round, but a run of less competitive results saw him slip to 5th in the standings before the race at Brno. In this race he started 2nd, took the lead at the start, and pulled away from the field for an easy victory. He attributed this to a late setup change the team believe can be applied to the bike at all circuits. He moved up in the championship standings to finish 3rd overall, after taking second at the final race behind stand-in team-mate Troy Bayliss.

2007 was not as strong a season for Capirossi. Immediately following the conclusion of the 2007 USGP race at Laguna Seca, Ducati announced the signing of Marco Melandri and the extension of Casey Stoner's contract for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. This left Capirossi without a firm position on the Marlboro Ducati team; the possibilities were mooted to be a third position on the factory team, or an option to manage a satellite team. Capirossi was not informed of the decision before the story was released to the press, much to his displeasure.

On 16 August, 2007, Capirossi announced that he would ride with the Suzuki factory team in 2008, alongside Australian Chris Vermeulen.

Personal life

Married to Ingrid Tence, the couple reside in Monaco. Their first child, a boy named Riccardo, was born on 2 April, 2007.

In August 2007, the Italian taxation authority announced that Capirossi is being investiagated for suspected tax evasion in relation to an alleged undeclared earnings of €1.3 million (US$1.77 million) in 2002. The authority is already investigating London resident Valentino Rossi. Capirossi's manager Carlo Pernat told the press: "It's absolutely absurd. Loris really lives in Monte Carlo. I don't understand what they can hold against him. He doesn't own anything in Italy."

Career statistics

By season

Seas	Class	Moto	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
1990	125cc	Honda RS125	14	3	8	0	0	182	1st	1
1991	125cc	Honda RS125	13	5	12	5	4	200	1st	1
1992	250cc	Honda RS250	13	0	0	0	0	27	12th	-
1993	250cc	Honda RS250	14	3	7	7	5	193	2nd	-
1994	250cc	Honda RS250	14	4	9	5	5	199	3rd	-
1995	500cc	Honda NSR500	12	0	1	0	0	108	6th	-
1996	500cc	Yamaha YZR500	15	1	2	0	0	98	10th	-
1997	250cc	Aprilia RS250	14	0	3	1	2	116	6th	-
1998	250cc	Aprilia RS250	14	2	9	8	3	224	1st	1
1999	250cc	Honda RS250	15	3	9	2	3	209	3rd	-
2000	500cc	Honda NSR500	16	1	4	1	1	154	7th	-
2001	500cc	Honda NSR500	16	0	9	4	1	210	3rd	-
2002	MotoGP	Honda NSR500	14	0	2	0	0	109	8th	-
2003	MotoGP	Ducati GP3	16	1	6	3	1	177	4th	-
2004	MotoGP	Ducati GP4	16	0	1	0	1	117	9th	-
2005	MotoGP	Ducati GP5	15	2	4	3	1	157	6th	-
2006	MotoGP	Ducati GP6	17	3	8	2	5	229	3rd	-
2007	MotoGP	Ducati GP7	18	1	4	0	0	166	7th	-
Total			266	29	98	41	32	2875		3

By class

Class	Seas	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	1990-1991	1990 Japan	1990 Nations	1990 Britain	27	8	20	5	4	382	2
250 cc	1992-1994, 1997-1999	1992 Japan	1993 Austria	1993 Dutch	84	12	37	23	18	968	1
500 cc	1995-1996, 2000-2001	1995 Australia	1995 Catalunya	1996 Australia	59	2	16	5	2	570	0
MotoGP	2002-2007	2002 Japan	2002 S. Africa	2003 Catalunya	96	7	25	8	8	955	0
Total	1990-2007				266	29	98	41	32	2875	3

Races by year (1999 onwards)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position)

Yr	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Championship	Pts
1999	250cc	Honda	MAL 1	JPN 3	SPA 3	FRA Ret	ITA EX	CAT	NED 1	GBR 2	GER 2	CZE 7	SMR 1	VAL 3	AUS 6	RSA 5	BRA 3	ARG Ret			3rd	209
2000	500cc	Honda	RSA 3	MAL Ret	JPN 12	SPA 6	FRA 8	ITA 1	CAT 6	NED 3	GBR 4	GER 6	CZE 5	POR 13	VAL Ret	BRA Ret	PAC 8	AUS 2			7th	154
2001	500cc	Honda	JPN 8	RSA 2	SPA 8	FRA 7	ITA 2	CAT 3	NED 3	GBR 10	GER 8	CZE 3	POR 2	VAL Ret	PAC 3	AUS 3	MAL 2	BRA 5			3rd	210
2002	MotoGP	Honda	JPN 9	SAF 3	SPA 4	FRA 7	ITA 6	CAT 6	NED Ret	GBR Inj	GER Inj	CZE 6	POR Ret	BRA 5	PAC 3	MAL 9	AUS Ret	VAL Ret			8th	109
2003	MotoGP	Ducati	JPN 3	SAF Ret	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 2	CAT 1	NED 6	GBR 4	GER 4	CZE Ret	POR 3	BRA 6	PAC 8	MAL 6	AUS 2	VAL 3			4th	177
2004	MotoGP	Ducati	SAF 6	SPA 12	FRA 10	ITA 8	CAT 10	NED 8	BRA 4	GER Ret	GBR 7	CZE 5	POR 7	JPN Ret	QAT Ret	MAL 6	AUS 3	VAL 9			9th	117
2005	MotoGP	Ducati	SPA 13	POR 9	CHN 12	FRA 7	ITA 3	CAT 12	NED 10	USA 10	GBR 6	GER 9	CZE 2	JPN 1	MAL 1	QAT 10	AUS Inj	TUR Inj	VAL 7		6th	157
2006	MotoGP	Ducati	SPA 1	QAT 3	TUR 6	CHN 8	FRA 2	ITA 2	CAT Ret	NED 15	GBR 9	GER 5	USA 8	CZE 1	MAL 2	AUS 7	JPN 1	POR 12	VAL 2		3rd	229
2007	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT Ret	SPA 12	TUR 3	CHN 6	FRA 8	ITA 7	CAT 6	GBR Ret	NED Ret	GER 2	USA Ret	CZE 6	SMR 5	POR 9	JPN 1	AUS 2	MAL 11	VAL 5	7th	166
2008	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT 8	SPA 5	POR 9	CHN 9	FRA 7	ITA 7	CAT Ret	GBR Inj	NED Inj	GER -	USA -	CZE -	SMR -	IND -	JPN -	AUS -	MAL -	VAL -	11th	51

Preceded by Max Biaggi	250cc Motorcycle World Champion 1998	Succeeded by Valentino Rossi
Preceded by Àlex Crivillé	125cc Motorcycle World Champion 1990-1991	Succeeded by Alessandro Gramigni