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Marco Melandri
Marco Melandri
	Melandri at the 2005 French motorcycle Grand Prix
Nationality	Italian
Born	7 August 1982 (age 42); 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)
250cc World Championship
Active years	2000–2002
Manufacturers	Aprilia
Championships	1 (2002)
2002 championship position	1st (298 pts)
125cc World Championship
Active years	1997–1999
Manufacturers	Honda
Championships	0
1999 championship position	2nd (226 pts)
Superbike World Championship
Active years	2011–2014, 2017–2019
Manufacturers	BMW, Yamaha, Aprilia, Ducati
Championships	0
2018 championship position	5th (297 pts)

Marco Melandri (born 7 August 1982) is an Italian retired motorcycle road racer who is a five-time premier class race winner. He is the 2002 250 cc World Champion and runner-up in 125 cc, MotoGP and Superbike World Championship. He competed in the MotoGP class from 2003 to 2010 and then a brief return with Aprilia in 2015.

Melandri's best years in MotoGP came in 2005 and 2006 with these two seasons being the only seasons he won races in MotoGP, the same as title rival Nicky Hayden. Melandri finished runner-up in 2005 to Valentino Rossi with two wins. The 2006 season is regarded as his best ever as he won three races and finished 24 points behind eventual champion Nicky Hayden. In both these seasons he won more races than title rival Hayden, finishing ahead of Hayden in 2005 and just behind him in 2006. Melandri has 22 race wins in Grand Prix motorcycle racing including five in MotoGP.

Melandri switched to the Superbike World Championship in 2011, earning 22 wins in his first six seasons finishing among the top five every time. Melandri retired from racing after the 2019 Superbike World Championship.^[1] After a brief return to Superbike in 2020 and racing in four rounds Melandri retired again.^[2]

Career

Early career

Melandri was born in Ravenna.^[3] 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 World Championship

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 World Championship

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 World Championship

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 although Melandri at times showed good speed, he struggled to turn this into good results. He finished the season in fifteenth position without collecting any wins or podiums.

He joined Yamaha's satellite team, Tech3 in 2004 alongside Norick Abe in order to make way for the incoming Valentino Rossi. 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 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 and in Valencia.^[4] 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^[5] and Phillip Island, Australia.^[6] 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.

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 teammate John Hopkins on 19 August.^[7] 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,^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] At Brno he battled Mika Kallio for sixth before a penultimate-lap collision between the two.^[11]

For 2010, Melandri returned to Gresini Honda, with a factory-spec RC212V bike from the start.^[12] Full factory support had sometimes been promised, but not provided, during his first Gresini spell.^[13] The team made set-up errors in its initial testing.^[14]

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 Tech3 team in MotoGP.^[15]

On 2 October 2011, Melandri signed a contract to ride with the BMW World Superbike team for the 2012 season,^[16] 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.^[17] 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,^[18] leading home teammate 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.^[19]

On 16 July 2020, it was announced that Melandri would replace Leon Camier at the Barni Ducati Racing Team for the remainder of the season 2020. Camier was not recovered from a shoulder injury during winter testing at Motorland Aragon after fracturing his shoulder and wrist.

In September 2020, another retirement announcement was made midway through the season, due to Melandri's disappointing results and the hope of the Barni team finding better WSBK success with their younger rider Samuele Cavalieri, promoted from their entry in the Italian national CIV Superstock race class.^[2]

Return to MotoGP

In November 2014, it was announced that Melandri would return to Gresini, Aprilia's factory team for the 2015 season.^[20] 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.^[21]

Car racing

In addition to his motorcycle racing career, Melandri has also competed in car racing.^[22] 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

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
1997	125cc	Honda RS125R		1	0	0	0	0	0	NC	–
1998	125cc	Honda RS125R	Benetton Matteoni	14	2	8	3	1	202	3rd	–
1999	125cc	Honda RS125R	Benetton Playlife	14	5	9	3	4	226	2nd	–
2000	250cc	Aprilia RSV250	Blu Aprilia Team	16	0	4	1	0	159	5th	–
2001	250cc	Aprilia RSV250	MS Aprilia Racing	15	1	9	0	4	194	3rd	–
2002	250cc	Aprilia RSV250	MS Aprilia Racing	16	9	12	2	4	298	1st	1
2003	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Fortuna Yamaha	13	0	0	0	0	45	15th	–
2004	MotoGP	Yamaha YZR-M1	Fortuna Tech3	15	0	2	0	0	75	12th	–
2005	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Movistar Honda MotoGP	17	2	7	0	3	220	2nd	–
2006	MotoGP	Honda RC211V	Fortuna Honda Gresini	17	3	7	0	0	228	4th	–
2007	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	Gresini Racing	17	0	3	0	0	187	5th	–
2008	MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP8	Ducati Marlboro	18	0	0	0	0	51	17th	–
2009	MotoGP	Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR	Hayate Racing Team	17	0	1	0	0	108	10th	–
2010	MotoGP	Honda RC212V	San Carlo Honda Gresini	17	0	0	0	0	103	10th	–
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia RS-GP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	8	0	0	0	0	0	NC	–
Total				215	22	62	9	16	2096		1

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125cc	1997–1999	1997 Czech Republic	1998 Italy	1998 Netherlands	29	7	17	6	5	428	0
250cc	2000–2002	2000 South Africa	2000 Portugal	2001 Germany	47	10	25	3	8	651	1
MotoGP	2003–2010, 2015	2003 Japan	2004 Catalunya	2005 Turkey	139	5	20	0	3	1017	0
Total	1997–2010, 2015				215	22	62	9	16	2096	1

Races by year

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

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos.	Pts
1997	125cc	Honda	MAL	JPN	SPA	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	BRA	GBR	CZE 17	CAT	IND	AUS				NC	0
1998	125cc	Honda	JPN 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					3rd	202
1999	125cc	Honda	MAL DNS	JPN	SPA 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			2nd	226
2000	250cc	Aprilia	RSA 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			5th	159
2001	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 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	AUS DNS	MAL 11	BRA 2			3rd	194
2002	250cc	Aprilia	JPN 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			1st	298
2003	MotoGP	Yamaha	JPN WD	RSA	SPA 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	VAL			15th	45
2004	MotoGP	Yamaha	RSA 11	SPA Ret	FRA 6	ITA 9	CAT 3	NED 3	BRA 13	GER Ret	GBR DNS	CZE 9	POR Ret	JPN 5	QAT Ret	MAL Ret	AUS Ret	VAL Ret			12th	75
2005	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 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		2nd	220
2006	MotoGP	Honda	SPA 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		4th	228
2007	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 5	SPA 8	CHN 5	TUR 5	FRA 2	ITA 9	CAT 9	GBR 10	NED 10	GER 6	USA 3	CZE WD	RSM 4	POR 5	JPN 5	AUS 10	MAL 2	VAL 4	5th	187
2008	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT 11	SPA 12	POR 13	CHN 5	FRA 15	ITA Ret	CAT 11	GBR 16	NED 13	GER Ret	USA 16	CZE 7	RSM 9	INP 19	JPN 13	AUS 16	MAL 16	VAL 16	17th	51
2009	MotoGP	Kawasaki	QAT 14	JPN 6	SPA 5	FRA 2	ITA 11	CAT 14	NED 12	USA 10	GER 7	GBR 7	CZE Ret	INP Ret	RSM 8	POR 12	AUS 7	MAL 8	VAL 17		10th	108
2010	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 13	SPA 8	FRA 6	ITA 5	GBR Ret	NED DNS	CAT 9	GER 10	USA 8	CZE 8	INP Ret	RSM 10	ARA 9	JPN 11	MAL 9	AUS 9	POR 9	VAL 13	10th	103
2015	MotoGP	Aprilia	QAT 21	AME Ret	ARG 20	SPA 19	FRA 18	ITA 18	CAT Ret	NED 19	GER	INP	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	NC	0

Superbike World Championship

By season

Season	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2011	Yamaha YZF-R1	Yamaha World Superbike Team	26	4	15	1	3	395	2nd	–
2012	BMW S1000RR	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	25	6	11	0	4	328.5	3rd	–
2013	BMW S1000RR	BMW Motorrad Motorsport	26	3	12	0	2	359	4th	–
2014	Aprilia RSV4	Aprilia Racing Team	24	6	11	0	3	333	4th	–
2017	Ducati Panigale R	Aruba.it Racing – Ducati	26	1	13	1	4	327	4th	–
2018	Ducati Panigale R	Aruba.it Racing – Ducati	25	2	10	2	5	297	5th	–
Total			152	22	72	4	21	2039.5		0

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
Year	Bike	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
2011	Yamaha	AUS 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			2nd	395
2012	BMW	AUS 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	3rd	328.5
2013	BMW	AUS 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	4th	359
2014	Aprilia	AUS 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					4th	333
2017	Ducati	AUS Ret	AUS 3	THA 4	THA 3	SPA 2	SPA 3	NED 3	NED Ret	ITA 3	ITA 5	GBR 4	GBR Ret	ITA 15	ITA 1	USA 4	USA 4	GER 4	GER 3	POR 3	POR 3	FRA 2	FRA 5	SPA Ret	SPA 2	QAT 3	QAT 6			4th	327
2018	Ducati	AUS 1	AUS 1	THA 8	THA 7	SPA 4	SPA 3	NED 6	NED 7	ITA 3	ITA Ret	GBR 22	GBR 11	CZE 2	CZE 15	USA 5	USA Ret	ITA 7	ITA 3	POR 2	POR 3	FRA 6	FRA 5	ARG 2	ARG 3	QAT 5	QAT C			5th	297

Year	Bike	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			13			Pos	Pts
Year	Bike	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	Pos	Pts
2019	Yamaha	AUS 3	AUS 6	AUS 6	THA 6	THA 6	THA 6	SPA 12	SPA 11	SPA 11	NED 12	NED C	NED 14	ITA 6	ITA 17	ITA C	SPA 3	SPA 3	SPA Ret	ITA 6	ITA 6	ITA 16	GBR 14	GBR 10	GBR 10	USA 9	USA 16	USA 9	POR 9	POR 13	POR 8	FRA 8	FRA 12	FRA 6	ARG DNS	ARG 15	ARG 14	QAT 12	QAT 10	QAT 17	9th	177
2020	Ducati	AUS	AUS	AUS	SPA 8	SPA 18	SPA 9	POR 17	POR 15	POR 14	SPA 14	SPA 17	SPA Ret	SPA Ret	SPA 17	SPA 12	SPA	SPA	SPA	FRA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR	POR																17th	23