2008 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The MotoGP class opened with the historic Qatar Grand Prix, the first night race held in the World Championship history. The race was won by Ducati's Casey Stoner ahead of rookie Jorge Lorenzo, who started on pole in the first race in the top class, and Dani Pedrosa.

In Spain Pedrosa won his first race of the year, ahead of Rossi and Lorenzo, while Stoner struggled with technical problems on his bike and finished 11th after twice going out on the gravel. At the Portugal GP, Lorenzo started on pole and won his first MotoGP race, ahead of Pedrosa and Rossi.

In China Rossi took his first win of the season and the first of three consecutive first places, after a weekend dominated by rain and cold temperatures; he then won in France and in front of his home crowd in Italy.

Stoner won the three consecutive races in Britain, the Netherlands and Germany, also obtaining pole position and the fastest lap in all three.

The United States race at Laguna Seca was the biggest turning point of the season. Before the race Stoner trailed Rossi on the standings by only 20 points. The Australian took pole position and started the race in first position. However, Rossi passed Stoner in the middle on the first lap, and Stoner could never make a decisive pass, and he stayed behind until the 24th lap, where he fell at the last corner. He re-mounted, but finished in second place while Rossi caught the first of five consecutive wins. In the next two races, Czech Republic and San Marino, Stoner fell off while leading from Rossi, who then won both times.

The race at Indianapolis was a particularly difficult due to track conditions: the arrival of Hurricane Ike over Indiana meant cold temperatures, heavy winds and rain for the whole race duration; the race was a battle between Rossi and former World Champion Nicky Hayden, who eventually took his first podium of the season. As Rossi began to pull a gap, heavy winds began to blow and the race was ended early with Rossi leading.

Two weeks later, in Japan, Rossi clinched his sixth premier class title with three races to go, by winning the race ahead of Stoner. The Australian then won his home race and in Valencia, while Rossi won in Malaysia.

The first four races of the season showed the early form of KTM and Mika Kallio, with two wins and two other third places, with strong showings by Marco Simoncelli, Alvaro Bautista and Mattia Pasini, who won the season opener in Qatar, his first race in the class. After the initial problems, though, Simoncelli had a run of 7 consecutive races on the podium, from China to Czech Republic. He started the season on a semi-works Aprilia LE (Gilera is a subsidiary of Aprilia, so Gilera racing bikes are rebranded Aprilia bikes), but his performances led Aprilia to give him a works Aprilia RSA, making him a de facto works rider.

After his strong start, Kallio couldn't keep the pace of Simoncelli, his KTM not being able to challenge the more powerful Aprilias in most tracks. Bautista got into shape well into the season, after a series of bad races and retirements due to problems with his bike and rider errors. After that, however, he also began a streak of podiums which lasted from Catalunya to Malaysia, but Simoncelli was too far ahead of him on the standings, and he won his first World Championship with one race to go.

Reigning champion Gábor Talmácsi stayed in the class, unlike other top names from last year who moved into 250cc category. Among the pre-season favourites were also Bradley Smith, Simone Corsi and Mike di Meglio. Talmácsi had dismal start to the season, with reliability problems on his new bike. Corsi won three of first six races and despite few bad results, looked good in the championship. However, Mike di Meglio won also multiple races, and having escaped without retirement until Misano, built up strong lead. He clinched the championship two races before the end. Corsi took second ahead of Talmácsi and Bradl who failed to finish the final race.

The season saw eight riders winning races: Talmácsi, Corsi, di Meglio, Sergio Gadea and four first-time winners: Andrea Iannone, Stefan Bradl, Nicolas Terol and Scott Redding, who became the youngest ever winner in the class. The season was completely dominated by the Piaggio bikes, (Aprilia, Derbi and Gilera), as Spanish Marc Márquez was only other rider to achieve podium place with his 3rd place in Donington.

• The Turkish Grand Prix was taken off the calendar.[6]
• The Portuguese Grand Prix was moved forward, from 16 September to 13 April to fill the gap of the Turkish Grand Prix.
• Only the MotoGP class raced during the United States Grand Prix because of a Californian law on air pollution, preventing the 125 and 250cc classes from racing.
• The Indianapolis Grand Prix was added to the calendar.[7]

Team Constructor Motorcycle Tyre No Rider Rounds Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati Team (rd 11 and 14) Ducati Ducati Desmosedici GP8 B 1 Casey Stoner[8] All 33 Marco Melandri[9] All Repsol Honda Team Honda Honda RC212V B 2 Dani Pedrosa[10] 14-18 M 1-13 8 Tadayuki Okada[11] 6 69 Nicky Hayden[8] 1–11, 13–18 JiR Team Scot MotoGP Honda Honda RC212V M 4 Andrea Dovizioso[12] All Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 M 5 Colin Edwards[13] All 52 James Toseland[14] All Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki Suzuki GSV-R B 7 Chris Vermeulen[15] All 9 Nobuatsu Aoki 17 11 Ben Spies[16] 8 11 Ben Spies 11, 14 64 Kousuke Akiyoshi 15 65 Loris Capirossi[17] 1–7, 9–18 Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR B 12 Jamie Hacking 11 13 Anthony West[18] All 21 John Hopkins[19] 1–9, 12–18 LCR Honda MotoGP Honda Honda RC212V M 14 Randy de Puniet[20] All San Carlo Honda Gresini Honda Honda RC212V B 15 Alex de Angelis[12] All 56 Shinya Nakano[21] All Alice Team Ducati Ducati Desmosedici GP8 Sat B 24 Toni Elías[22] All 50 Sylvain Guintoli[23] All Fiat Yamaha Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR-M1 B 46 Valentino Rossi[8] All M 48 Jorge Lorenzo[24] All

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

† = Switched from Michelin to Bridgestone tyres after the 13th round, the San Marino Grand Prix.

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider has to finish the race to earn points.

• Riders marked with light blue background were eligible for Rookie of the Year awards.

Pos. Rider Team QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 5 2 3 1 1 1 2 2 11 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 373 2 Casey Stoner Ducati 1 11 6 3 16 2 3 1 1 1 2 Ret Ret 4 2 1 6 1 280 3 Dani Pedrosa Honda 3 1 2 2 4 3 1 3 2 Ret WD 15 4 8 3 Ret 2 2 249 4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2 3 1 4 2 Ret WD 6 6 Ret Ret 10 2 3 4 4 Ret 8 190 5 Andrea Dovizioso Honda 4 8 Ret 11 6 8 4 5 5 5 4 9 8 5 9 7 3 4 174 6 Nicky Hayden Honda 10 4 Ret 6 8 13 8 7 4 13 5 DNS 2 5 3 4 5 155 7 Colin Edwards Yamaha 7 Ret 4 7 3 5 5 4 3 Ret 14 14 10 15 7 8 8 6 144 8 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 17 10 8 Ret 5 10 7 8 7 3 3 6 5 9 Ret 15 9 13 128 9 Shinya Nakano Honda 13 9 10 10 10 9 9 9 8 9 10 4 12 17 8 5 5 7 126 10 Loris Capirossi Suzuki 8 5 9 9 7 7 Ret WD 7 15 3 7 16 6 10 7 9 118 11 James Toseland Yamaha 6 6 7 12 Ret 6 6 17 9 11 9 13 6 18 11 6 Ret 11 105 12 Toni Elías Ducati 14 15 12 8 11 12 DSQ 11 12 12 7 2 3 12 16 11 15 18 92 13 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati 15 16 14 15 13 11 13 13 10 6 12 12 11 7 14 14 13 12 67 14 Alex de Angelis Honda Ret 14 11 16 12 4 Ret 15 Ret 4 13 8 Ret 10 17 Ret 14 10 63 15 Randy de Puniet Honda 9 Ret 15 13 9 Ret Ret 12 Ret 8 6 16 Ret 13 12 9 10 15 61 16 John Hopkins Kawasaki 12 7 5 14 Ret Ret 10 Ret DNS 11 14 14 10 13 11 14 57 17 Marco Melandri Ducati 11 12 13 5 15 Ret 11 16 13 Ret 16 7 9 19 13 16 16 16 51 18 Anthony West Kawasaki 16 13 16 17 14 15 12 10 Ret 10 17 5 13 11 15 12 12 17 50 19 Ben Spies Suzuki 14 8 6 20 20 Jamie Hacking Kawasaki 11 5 21 Tadayuki Okada Honda 14 2 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki 17 0 Kousuke Akiyoshi Suzuki Ret 0 Pos. Rider Bike QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER USA CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider has to finish the race to earn points.

• Riders marked with light blue background were eligible for Rookie of the Year awards.

Pos. Rider Team QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts 1 Marco Simoncelli Gilera Ret Ret 2 4 2 1 1 2 3 1 3 6 C 1 1 3 1 281 2 Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 6 Ret 1 12 14 Ret 2 3 1 3 2 1 C 2 2 1 3 244 3 Mika Kallio KTM 3 1 3 1 5 4 Ret 1 7 4 5 Ret C 5 3 Ret 11 196 4 Alex Debón Aprilia 4 6 Ret 5 1 2 4 7 4 Ret 1 Ret C 3 5 6 Ret 176 5 Yuki Takahashi Honda 5 3 6 7 4 Ret 12 9 8 9 6 2 C 6 7 4 2 167 6 Héctor Barberá Aprilia 2 5 8 6 12 Ret 3 4 5 2 4 3 C DNS 142 7 Hiroshi Aoyama KTM 16 4 5 2 7 8 7 6 6 8 13 Ret C 9 Ret 2 5 139 8 Mattia Pasini Aprilia 1 2 Ret 3 3 5 6 Ret Ret 6 7 Ret C 8 Ret Ret 9 132 9 Roberto Locatelli Gilera 8 8 Ret 11 13 6 Ret 11 9 10 9 4 C 10 6 7 4 110 10 Julián Simón KTM 11 7 7 Ret 8 11 9 8 10 5 12 5 C 4 4 Ret Ret 109 11 Thomas Lüthi Aprilia 15 Ret 4 Ret 11 3 5 5 2 7 Ret 7 C 9 10 108 12 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia 9 9 11 9 9 9 Ret 10 17 13 10 Ret C 7 8 5 7 92 13 Ratthapark Wilairot Honda 13 12 13 8 15 10 11 16 12 16 11 8 C 13 9 8 8 73 14 Héctor Faubel Aprilia 10 Ret 9 10 10 Ret 8 15 11 14 8 Ret C 11 Ret Ret 6 64 15 Lukáš Pešek Aprilia Ret 10 10 Ret Ret Ret 10 13 15 Ret 14 9 C 12 14 10 Ret 43 16 Karel Abraham Aprilia 7 13 16 Ret Ret 7 Ret 12 DNS Ret Ret 10 C DNS 11 12 17 40 17 Alex Baldolini Aprilia Ret 11 12 Ret 16 12 13 Ret 14 11 15 Ret C 16 12 13 12 35 18 Fabrizio Lai Gilera 12 Ret Ret 14 Ret 14 15 17 13 12 17 11 15 10 11 Ret 33 19 Manuel Poggiali Gilera 14 Ret 17 Ret 6 Ret 14 14 Ret DNS DNS 16 20 Imre Tóth Aprilia Ret 15 18 16 18 15 Ret Ret 20 17 Ret Ret C 22 13 15 13 9 21 Eugene Laverty Aprilia Ret Ret 15 13 Ret 13 Ret Ret 16 15 16 Ret C 8 22 Federico Sandi Aprilia 14 17 Ret 18 12 Ret 18 6 23 Manuel Hernández Aprilia Ret 14 13 C 19 Ret 16 16 5 24 Simone Grotzkyj Gilera 15 C Ret 15 14 15 4 25 Daniel Arcas Honda Ret 2 Aprilia 20 16 17 14 26 Shoya Tomizawa Honda 14 2 27 Toni Wirsing Honda 20 20 14 Ret 2 28 Doni Tata Pradita Yamaha 17 16 19 15 Ret 17 18 19 19 19 19 16 C 18 17 18 19 1 Russell Gómez Aprilia Ret 17 19 16 17 18 Ret Ret 21 0 Takumi Takahashi Honda 17 0 Alen Győrfi Honda 18 DNQ 0 Aprilia Ret Frederik Watz Aprilia 18 0 Takumi Endoh Yamaha 21 0 Yuuki Ito Yamaha 23 0 Ho Wan Chow Aprilia Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ 0 Kazuki Watanabe Yamaha DNS 0 Toby Markham Yamaha DNS 0 Stefano Bianco Gilera C 0 Aprilia DNQ Barrett Long Yamaha C 0 Kyle Ferris Yamaha C 0 Sérgio Batista Honda DNQ 0 Pos. Rider Bike QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider has to finish the race to earn points.

• Riders marked with light blue background were eligible for Rookie of the Year awards.

Pos. Rider Team QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts 1 Mike Di Meglio Derbi 4 9 7 2 1 4 1 2 7 1 2 Ret 10 2 1 5 3 264 2 Simone Corsi Aprilia 7 1 1 Ret 13 1 5 5 3 5 10 3 7 7 8 3 1 225 3 Gábor Talmácsi Aprilia 12 Ret 6 3 14 2 3 Ret 1 3 4 1 14 3 3 1 Ret 206 4 Stefan Bradl Aprilia 3 4 8 5 6 10 4 Ret 12 2 1 Ret 3 1 2 Ret Ret 187 5 Nicolás Terol Aprilia 10 2 3 8 3 7 Ret 18 9 7 5 5 1 5 Ret 9 2 176 6 Bradley Smith Aprilia 16 3 Ret Ret 2 5 14 10 5 4 6 2 8 Ret Ret 2 4 150 7 Joan Olivé Derbi 2 Ret 2 6 8 9 Ret 7 2 Ret 3 12 12 4 14 7 Ret 142 8 Sandro Cortese Aprilia 11 10 10 16 11 8 8 9 4 6 7 7 5 6 6 4 5 141 9 Pol Espargaró Derbi 8 14 13 4 4 3 2 DNS 16 8 Ret 2 Ret 5 6 DNS 124 10 Andrea Iannone Aprilia 14 18 11 1 5 12 Ret Ret 8 11 9 6 Ret Ret 4 10 6 106 11 Scott Redding Aprilia 5 7 21 Ret Ret 14 6 1 Ret 8 11 Ret 4 8 10 Ret 8 105 12 Sergio Gadea Aprilia 1 Ret 9 Ret 20 6 9 4 Ret Ret 12 10 18 9 Ret 12 Ret 83 13 Marc Márquez KTM WD 18 12 Ret 19 10 3 Ret 9 Ret 4 6 Ret 9 WD 63 14 Esteve Rabat KTM 24 12 Ret 11 17 25 DNS 11 6 DSQ 13 9 Ret Ret 7 Ret 10 49 15 Stevie Bonsey Aprilia Ret 6 4 14 Ret 11 7 17 17 17 Ret Ret 9 20 Ret Ret Ret 46 16 Dominique Aegerter Derbi 17 8 12 17 23 24 12 19 16 10 14 8 11 19 Ret 8 Ret 45 17 Tomoyoshi Koyama KTM Ret 13 16 13 Ret Ret 13 6 13 Ret Ret 18 19 11 11 7 41 18 Raffaele De Rosa KTM Ret 11 Ret 9 9 13 Ret 14 10 Ret Ret Ret 13 12 Ret Ret Ret 37 19 Danny Webb Aprilia 6 Ret 5 Ret 21 Ret 11 Ret Ret Ret 14 15 10 DNS Ret Ret 35 20 Efrén Vázquez Aprilia 9 Ret 15 10 Ret 18 16 WD Ret 15 18 11 20 14 11 DNS 12 31 21 Pablo Nieto KTM 18 5 Ret DNS Ret Ret Ret Ret 20 14 16 Ret Ret 18 13 14 9 25 22 Lorenzo Zanetti KTM 21 Ret Ret Ret 7 20 Ret 15 Ret Ret 19 Ret 30 17 12 13 11 22 23 Michael Ranseder Aprilia 15 16 14 7 Ret 15 17 12 14 Ret 21 13 Ret Ret DNQ 22 24 Takaaki Nakagami Aprilia 19 15 19 Ret 16 16 22 8 Ret 18 Ret 19 Ret 13 Ret Ret 16 12 25 Randy Krummenacher KTM 22 WD Ret 10 17 15 13 19 Ret 23 26 21 19 17 10 26 Pere Tutusaus Aprilia 20 19 22 15 12 21 19 22 21 12 20 Ret 9 27 Stefano Bianco Aprilia 13 Ret 17 DNS Ret Ret 18 20 11 8 28 Alexis Masbou Loncin Ret 21 20 Ret 15 27 Ret Ret 23 20 26 Ret 26 15 Ret Ret 14 4 29 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia 22 Ret 13 3 30 Marcel Schrötter Honda 13 3 31 Robin Lässer Aprilia 23 DNS Ret Ret 28 Ret 21 22 Ret 15 20 17 23 15 20 Ret 2 32 Enrique Jerez KTM 19 Ret 15 1 33 Adrián Martín Aprilia Ret 25 17 15 Ret 1 34 Jonas Folger KTM Ret 15 24 16 17 18 1 35 Hugo van den Berg Aprilia Ret Ret Ret 19 Ret 29 21 25 15 Ret 25 24 21 Ret Ret Ret Ret 1 Jules Cluzel Loncin Ret 17 Ret DNS 23 20 16 18 Ret 24 16 16 Ret Ret 16 19 0 Marco Ravaioli Aprilia 23 22 17 Ret 21 16 18 20 0 Lukáš Šembera Aprilia 17 0 Louis Rossi Honda 25 24 WD 18 19 32 25 23 24 21 29 23 23 0 Roberto Lacalendola Aprilia Ret 20 DNS Ret 18 Ret 23 27 Ret 0 Cyril Carrillo Honda 25 Ret 28 26 18 DNS 0 Marvin Fritz Seel 19 0 Jed Metcher Honda 20 0 Robert Mureșan Aprilia Ret 26 24 Ret 22 34 24 24 25 22 27 25 Ret Ret 22 21 0 Bastien Chesaux Aprilia Ret 28 22 23 Ret Ret 21 22 0 Gabriele Ferro Honda 31 21 0 Iván Maestro Honda 22 0 Aprilia 27 Ret Yuuichi Yanagisawa Honda 22 0 PJ Jacobsen Aprilia 22 0 Daniel Sáez Aprilia 23 27 24 0 Dino Lombardi Aprilia Ret 23 0 Tobias Siegert Aprilia Ret 24 0 Hiroki Ono Honda 24 0 Luca Vitali Aprilia 30 25 0 Cristian Trabalón Aprilia 25 0 Alberto Moncayo Derbi 25 0 Axel Pons Aprilia Ret 26 Ret 0 Ricard Cardús Derbi 26 Ret 0 Riccardo Moretti Honda 26 Ret 0 Michael van der Mark Honda 26 0 Lee Costello Honda 26 0 Davide Stirpe KTM 27 0 Robert Gull Derbi 27 0 Karel Pešek Aprilia 28 Ret 0 Jasper Iwema Seel 28 0 Kristian Lee Turner Aprilia 29 0 Ernst Dubbink Honda 29 0 Michal Prášek Aprilia 30 0 Jerry van de Bunt Aprilia 30 0 Andrea Toušková Honda 31 0 Ferruccio Lamborghini Aprilia 33 0 Julián Miralles Aprilia DSQ 0 Rhys Moller Honda Ret 0 Brad Gross Yamaha Ret 0 Kazuma Watanabe Honda Ret 0 Iori Namihira Honda Ret 0 Hiroomi Iwata Honda Ret 0 Gennaro Sabatino Aprilia Ret 0 Sebastian Kreuziger Honda Ret 0 Eric Hübsch Aprilia Ret 0 Joey Litjens Seel Ret 0 Matthew Hoyle Honda Ret 0 Connor Behan Honda Ret 0 Paul Jordan Honda Ret 0 Luke Hinton Honda Ret 0 Jordi Dalmau Honda Ret 0 Steven Le Coquen Honda Ret 0 Gioele Pellino Loncin Ret 0 Valentin Debise KTM DNS 0 Blake Leigh-Smith Honda DNQ 0 Jake Horne Honda DNQ 0 Pos. Rider Bike QAT ESP POR CHN FRA ITA CAT GBR NED GER CZE SMR IND JPN AUS MAL VAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate (DNP) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole position Italics – Fastest lap