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#33 - MARCO MELANDRI RIDER FOR GRESINI HONDA Marco started racing minibikes at eight years of age having spent much of his youth at racing circuits watching his father compete in the Italian Championship. He quickly progressed through the ranks making his 125cc Grand Prix debut shortly after his fifteenth birthday. He holds the distinction of being the youngest ever Grand Prix winner, a record he set when he won the 125cc race at the Assen TT in 1998, aged 15 years and 324 days. In 1999 Marco finished in second position in the 125cc World Championship at just one point from the leader of the classification. One year later he decided to move up a category riding the 250cc Aprilia and in 2002 Marco set another record: aged just 20 years and 74 days, he became the youngest 250cc World Champion winning 9 of 16 races along the way. 2003 was Marco’s debut season in the MotoGP class, where he partnered Carlos Checa in the Yamaha Factory Team. He finished 15 th in the Championship and achieved some promising results and several front row starts. Unfortunately, injuries at the start and end of the year marred his season slightly, but he has now returned to full fitness following a shoulder operation at the end of October 2003. He continued his apprenticeship in the MotoGP class during the 2004 season with Yamaha in the satellite team Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3. He scored his first two podiums in the MotoGP class in Barcelona (Catalunya GP) and in Assen (GP of Holland), and finished the Championship 12 th. In 2005 Marco Melandri made his debut on RC211V with the Movistar Honda team. Starting immediately with a podium finish, after three races he was already second in the championship, a position which he was able to keep for a long time, before hitting a difficult patch. His challenge at the end of the season to regain his top standing position was such an incredible feat. Marco scored two magnificent victories, the first in Turkey and again during the final race in Valencia, allowing him to win the title of vice world champion. In 2006 Marco Melandri conquers three great victories in Turkey, France and Australia for a total of 7 podiums. In a season complicated by a bad incident (at Montemelo at the start of the GP of (Catalunya), Marco loses the third position for one point and finishes 4th. Marco Melandri, at his third
season with Fausto Gresini and Honda, faces the challenge to the world title on
a new bike, the Honda Rc212V 800cc, new tires supplied by Bridgestone.
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