34 Facts About Loris Capirossi

Loris Capirossi was born on 4 April 1973 and is an Italian former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, currently serving as Safety Advisor to Dorna Sports, the commercial rights holder of Grand Prix motorcycle racing.

Loris Capirossi is a 9-time Premier Class race winner, competing between 1990 and 2011.

Loris Capirossi was the first Grand Prix rider to start at least 300 races, having made his 300th start at the 2010 season-opener Qatar Grand Prix.

Loris Capirossi finished in the top six on ten occasions, eight of them on the podium, and took wins in Britain, Hungary and Australia.

Loris Capirossi was only once off the front row of the grid, and had five pole positions, as well as four fastest laps.

Loris Capirossi came second five times, and was a winner in Australia, Malaysia, and three European venues.

In 1993 Loris Capirossi made his first win at Netherlands and added another two in San Marino and United States, but finished second and only four points behind Harada.

Loris Capirossi finished third at the end of the season behind Max Biaggi and Tadayuki Okada.

Loris Capirossi was aboard a Pileri Honda, and although he often qualified better than he raced, he still took 6th in the championship.

In 1996 Loris Capirossi retired from five of the first seven races, but thereafter he was often in the points and won the final race in Australia riding for Wayne Rainey's Yamaha team.

Loris Capirossi battled his Aprilia teammate, 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 Loris Capirossi's machine, sending the Japanese rider off the track.

Valentino Rossi took the victory whilst Loris Capirossi recovered to claim second place and the world championship.

Loris Capirossi moved to Honda for the 1999 season, taking third in the championship with three victories.

Loris Capirossi was involved in further controversy in the 1999 season, being black flagged at Mugello for dangerous riding after being involved in an incident with Marcellino Lucchi at the start of the race, as well as passing under yellow flags.

Loris Capirossi won at his home race and finished 7th overall, one point behind Carlos Checa.

Loris Capirossi was not given access to Honda's four-stroke machine in late 2002 when teammate Alex Barros was, as he was already to leave the team.

Loris Capirossi stayed in the team for the 2005 season, which saw him become competitive by the end of the year, taking two victories in Japan and Malaysia, aided by improving Bridgestone tyres.

Loris Capirossi returned for the next round, but a run of less competitive results saw him slip to fifth in the standings before the race at Brno.

Loris Capirossi started second, took the lead at the start, and pulled away from the field for an easy victory.

Loris Capirossi attributed this to a late setup change that the team believed could be applied to the bike at all circuits.

Loris Capirossi moved up in the championship standings to finish third overall, after taking second at the final race behind stand-in teammate Troy Bayliss.

Loris Capirossi was not informed of the decision before the story was released to the press, much to his displeasure.

On 16 August 2007, Loris Capirossi announced that he would ride with the Suzuki factory team in the 2008 and 2009 seasons, alongside Australian Chris Vermeulen.

The only podium Loris Capirossi had was in Czech Republic at Brno.

Loris Capirossi finished the season in tenth place, his lowest position since 1996.

Loris Capirossi finished the season in ninth place without a podium for the first time since 1992.

On 11 April 2010, Loris Capirossi became the first rider in the history of the sport to start 300 races, when he finished ninth in the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

For 2011 Loris Capirossi announced that he would ride for the Ducati Pramac Team.

On 11 June 2010, Loris Capirossi rode a Suzuki around the Snaefell Mountain Course on the Isle of Man as part of Suzuki's 50th anniversary at the Isle of Man TT.

On completion of his lap, Loris Capirossi described the experience as 'amazing'.

On 1 September 2011, Loris Capirossi announced that he would retire from MotoGP racing, at the end of the 2011 season.

Several key moments of Loris Capirossi's career are described in the book "Belin che paddock" by MotoGP manager Carlo Pernat, who managed Loris Capirossi for several years.

Loris Capirossi was interviewed for the MotoGP documentary Faster by Mark Neale.