History of Grand Prix racing at Phillip Island
This will be the 22nd Australian Grand Prix, which has been held every year since the first visit in 1989. The first two Australian GPs were held at Phillip Island, before visiting the Eastern Creek circuit for six successive years and then returning to Phillip Island in 1997 where it has since remained. Below is a reminder of the highlights of the previous events held at Phillip Island:
1989/Phillip Island: The home crowd had lots to cheer in the first ever Australian Grand Prix, with Wayne Gardner (Honda) taking the 500cc victory by less than half a second from Wayne Rainey after a race long battle. Sito Pons (Honda) won the 250cc race on the way to his second world title and Alex Criville (JJ Cobas) scored his first ever Grand Prix win in the 125cc race.
1990/Phillip Island: Another victory for Wayne Gardner, this time after a tremendous battle with fellow Australian and team-mate, Mick Doohan, with less than one second separating them at the end of the race. Gardner had ridden for most of the race with his fairing dragging on the tarmac, after breaking a bracket with his knee fighting a near high-sider on lap two. This was the first ever one-two for Australia in the 500cc class. John Kocinski (Yamaha) won the 250cc race to take the world title and Loris Capirossi (Honda) won the 125cc race to become the youngest ever world champion – a record that he still holds.
1997/Phillip Island – Grand Prix racing returned to Phillip Island in 1997 following a six year break during which the Australian GP was held at Eastern Creek. Alex Criville (Honda) won the 500cc race from teammate Takuma Aoki on the V-twin Honda. Australian hero Mick Doohan had crashed out of a comfortable lead on lap seventeen. Max Biaggi (Honda) finished second to his closest rival Ralf Waldmann to clinch the 250cc title by just two points and in doing so became the first rider to win the 250cc championship in four successive years.
1998/Phillip Island – Mick Doohan (Honda) won the 500cc race from Simon Crafar, to clinch the last of his five world titles at his home race. Valentino Rossi (Aprilia) won for the first time at Phillip Island, in the 250cc class.
1999/Phillip Island – Tadayuki Okada (Honda) took the last of his four 500cc Grand Prix victories after early leader Kenny Roberts was forced to slow, due to his rear tyre losing chunks of tread. Valentino Rossi repeated his 250cc win of 1998 at Phillip Island, on his way to taking the world title
2000/Phillip Island – Max Biaggi (Yamaha) won the 500cc race from fellow Italians Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi. This was the first all-Italian podium in the 500cc class since 1972. Olivier Jacque (Yamaha) won the 250cc race from team-mate and closest championship challenger Shinya Nakano by just 0.014 sec to clinch the world title by only seven points.
2001/Phillip Island: Valentino Rossi (Honda) won his first premier-class title by taking the victory in one of the closest races of all time with just 2.832 seconds covering the first nine riders across the line.
2002/Phillip Island – Valentino Rossi (Honda) won the first race at Phillip Island of the four-stroke MotoGP era. Jeremy McWilliams had started the race from pole riding the three cylinder Proton KR machine – the last ever pole in the premier-class by a two-stroke machine and the first MotoGP pole by a rider using Bridgestone tyres. Marco Melandri (Aprilia) won the 250cc race to clinch the title and become the youngest ever rider to become 250cc world champion.
2003/Phillip Island – Valentino Rossi (Honda) took one of the most incredible wins of his illustrious career after being given a ten-second penalty mid-race, for a yellow-flag infringement. Andrea Ballerini (Honda) won for the only time in the 125cc class, using Bridgestone tyres; this was the last 125cc GP to be won by a rider not on Dunlop tyres.
2004/Phillip Island – Valentino Rossi won once again after a race long battle with great rival Sete Gibernau, to clinch the MotoGP title in his first year riding for Yamaha. Fourth place in the 250cc race was enough for Dani Pedrosa (Honda) to take the honour of being the youngest ever 250cc world champion.
2005/Phillip Island – Valentino Rossi won for the fifth successive year in Australia – the last MotoGP win for both Rossi and Yamaha at Phillip Island. Dani Pedrosa won the 250cc race to clinch his second world title in the class.
2006/Phillip Island – Marco Melandri (Honda) won the race by almost ten seconds after the flag-to-flag wet weather regulations came into play for the first time. Chris Vermeulen was second, and became the first Australian to finish on the podium in the MotoGP class at Phillip Island since Mick Doohan in 1998. In the 250cc class, Jorge Lorenzo (Aprilia) won for the first time at Phillip Island. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) won the shortened 125cc race to clinch the world championship.
2007/Phillip Island – Casey Stoner (Ducati) won for the first time in Australia, racing for the first time as MotoGP world champion. Jorge Lorenzo won the 250cc GP at Phillip Island for the second year in succession, this time by a massive margin of almost 20 seconds.
2008/Phillip Island – Casey Stoner again won the MotoGP race in Australia, from Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, which was only the second time in the 60 year history of Grand Prix racing that a podium consisted of three riders who were either reigning or past world champions in the premier-class. Mike di Meglio claimed the 125cc title with a race win at Phillip Island.
2009/Phillip Island – Last year in Australia, Casey Stoner made it three successive wins at his home Grand Prix. Julian Simon (Aprilia) won the 125cc race to clinch the world title.
- Jorge Lorenzo won the 250cc race at Phillip Island in both 2006 and 2007, having qualified on pole on both occasions. In 2008, on his debut at the circuit on a MotoGP machine, he finished fourth after starting from second place on the grid. Last year, the Australian Grand Prix was the only race all year at which he did not qualify for the front row of the grid. He then crashed at the first corner after a collision with Nicky Hayden.
- Dani Pedrosa has had just two podium finishes in Australia; a win in the 250cc race in 2005 to clinch the world title, and last year he finished third in the MotoGP race. On his first race at Phillip Island on a MotoGP machine in 2006, he finished down in 15th in the dry and then wet race. In 2007 he was fourth after qualifying on pole, and in 2008 he crashed on the first lap of the race.
- Valentino Rossi has finished on the podium twelve times in his thirteen visits to Phillip Island across all three GP classes. The only race at Phillip Island he did not finish in the top three was on his first visit, riding a 125cc machine in 1997, when he finished sixth. In 1998 and 1999 he won the 250cc races and since then has had ten podiums in the premier-class including five victories, the last of which was in 2005. He has finished second to Casey Stoner for the last two years in Australia. Phillip Island is one of just four current circuits where Rossi has never started from pole riding a Yamaha – the others are Laguna Seca, Silverstone and Aragon.
- Casey Stoner has a fantastic record at Phillip Island and has won for the last three years as well as qualifying on pole for the past two years. During the three year winning sequence, he has been leading at the end of every lap with the exception of lap one last year, when Pedrosa led across the line.
- Andrea Dovizioso won the 125cc race at Phillip Island in 2004 by just over one tenth of a second from current MotoGP rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner. His third place finish on a 250cc machine in 2007 is his only podium at Phillip Island since the victory in 2004. In 2008, his first year in the MotoGP class, he was pushed off the track on the first lap and dropped down to tenth and then fought through the field to battle for fourth before tangling with Toseland on the final lap and finishing seventh. Last year in Australia he was suffering from a stomach bug and he finished sixth from tenth place on the grid.
- Ben Spies made his World Superbike debut last year at Phillip Island; he qualified on pole, finished 16th in the first race, after running off the track on the first lap, and he won the second race. A good result for Spies in Australia could see him secure the Rookie of the Year award, as well as guarantee him the honour of being the top non-factory rider in 2010.
- Nicky Hayden finished on the podium at Phillip Island in both 2003 and 2005 and started from pole in 2005 and 2006. In 2007 he was in second place and looked like a possible winner until lap 10, when his engine lost power and then completely expired. In 2008 he set a new lap record on his way to finishing third – his last podium finish on a Honda. Last year on the Ducati, he was 15th after being pushed off the track by Lorenzo at the first corner and dropping to the back of the field, also suffering some damage to the bike.
- Randy de Puniet’s sixth place finish in 2007 riding a Kawasaki is his best result at Phillip Island in the MotoGP class. In 2008 he was disappointed to finish ninth, having qualified in fourth place on the grid, and last year at Phillip Island he finished eighth.
- Marco Simoncelli has won the 250cc race at Phillip Island for the last two years and in 2008 he also qualified on pole.
- Marco Melandri is the only rider to have won in all three classes at the Phillip Island circuit, having won the 125cc race in 1999, the 250cc class in 2002 and the MotoGP race in 2006 – which was also the last time he stood on the top step of the podium. His win in 2006 was the first MotoGP race at which riders changed bikes mid-race due to the change in weather conditions. Last year he qualified in 14th place on the grid but made a great improvement in the race to finish seventh.
- Colin Edwards’ best result at Phillip Island since moving to MotoGP is a fourth place finish in 2004 when riding a Honda. His best result on a Yamaha at the circuit is the fifth place finish which he achieved last year.
- Hector Barbera’s second place finish last year, in the 250cc class, was his first podium at the Phillip Island circuit. Barbera missed the Australian Grand Prix two years ago due to a serious back injury, received in a crash during practice for the previous race in Japan.
- Alvaro Bautista finished on the podium on three successive occasions in Australia when competing in the small GP classes; he won the 125cc race in 2006 to clinch the world title and finished 2nd in the 250cc race in both 2007 and 2008. Last year he was battling for a podium finish in the 250cc GP in Australia when he slid off at the hairpin and re-mounted to finish tenth. His fifth place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix equalled his best result since moving up to MotoGP and it is also the best ever result by a Suzuki four-stroke MotoGP machine at the Sepang circuit.
- Aleix Espargaro’s best result at Phillip Island is eighth in 2008. He did not compete at the Australian GP last year as he was without a Grand Prix ride at that time.
- Loris Capirossi’s single win at Phillip Island came in the 125cc class back in 1990 on his way to winning his first world title. Capirossi has had five podium finishes in the premier-class at Phillip Island from nine starts. Last year he finished twelfth at the Australian GP after starting from the back of the grid as a penalty for using an extra engine beyond the allocation of five engines for the last seven races of the year.
- Hiroshi Aoyama’s best result at Phillip Island is a third place finish in the 250cc class in 2006 riding a KTM. Aoyama finished seventh in the 250cc race at Phillip Island last year when the race was stopped prematurely when Roberto Locatelli had a big crash. Aoyama finished seventh at the Malaysian GP – his best result since moving up to MotoGP.
- Mika Kallio twice finished on the podium at Phillip Island when racing in the smaller GP classes; second in the 125cc race in 2006, after qualifying on pole, and third in the 250cc class in 2008. Last year at Phillip Island he finished ninth, from ninth place on the grid, which was his best qualifying result in his debut year in the MotoGP class.
Grand Prix racing numbers
25 – Casey Stoner celebrates his 25th birthday on the day qualifying takes place at Phillip Island.
24 – Spanish riders have won the last twenty-four 125cc Grand Prix races. The last non-Spanish winner in the 125cc class was Andrea Iannone at the Catalan Grand Prix last year. This is the longest sequence of successive 125cc GP wins by one nation in the 62-year history of Grand Prix racing.
21 – Valentino Rossi’s victory at Sepang was his 21st since the introduction of the 800cc capacity limit in MotoGP. This is just one victory less than Casey Stoner, who is the most successful rider of the 800cc era in terms of Grand Prix wins.
11 – The victory by Marc Marquez at the Malaysian GP was the eleventh victory of the year in the 125cc class by Derbi riders. This is the highest number of wins achieved in a single season by Derbi in the 125cc class.
8 – Australian riders have taken eight premier-class victories in their home Grand Prix; Wayne Gardner at Phillip Island in 1989 and 1990, Mick Doohan at Eastern Creek in 1992 & 1995 and Phillip Island in 1998, Casey Stoner for the last three years at Phillip Island.
6 years 161 days – The length of time between Roberto Rolfo’s last GP win in the 250cc class at Jerez in 2004 and his Moto2 victory in Malaysia.
5 – Following his win in Malaysia, Marc Marquez moves back to the top of the 125cc championship standings. This is the fifth time this year that the leadership of the world championship classification has changed in the 125cc class.
3 – Since the four-stroke MotoGP formula was introduced in 2002, Ducati and Honda have each had three MotoGP wins at Phillip Island and Yamaha have had two victories.
3 – Phillip Island is one of just three current circuits where Yamaha have not had a win since the introduction of the 800cc capacity limit; the other two are Valencia and Aragon.