Loris Capirossi

Loris Capirossi (born April 4, 1973 in Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna) is an Italian Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who currently rides a Ducati for the Pramac Racing MotoGP team. He is a former 250cc World Champion for Aprilia; Capirossi made his 300th start at the 2010 season-opening Qatar Grand Prix.

Loris Capirossi Show Ups With His Motorcycle

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.

Loris Capirossi On The Podium

Loris Capirossi With His Partner

Loris Capirossi and Motorcycle

2008 was a less competitive season than year due to many weak results during the season. The only podium Capirossi had was in the Czech Republic at Brno. In Spain, Capirossi was injured and missed two races. He finished the season in tenth place, his lowest position since 1996. In 2009, his season started with a spectacular crash in Qatar, when he was in second place. In Italy, Capirossi fought with Stoner for first place but fell to fifth place due to his slower Suzuki on the main straight. He finished the season in 9th place without a podium for the first time since 1992. On 11 April 2010, 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. The rest of his campaign has been plagued by retirements and injury with Capirossi only finishing seven races in the season so far, and holds 17th place in the championship standings. For 2011 Capirossi announced that he would ride for Ducati Pramac Team.