The 2003 Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 2003 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 4–6 April 2003 at Suzuka. The meeting was overshadowed by the death of Daijiro Kato in the MotoGP race, after he crashed at 130R and hit the barrier at high speed in the ensuing Casio Triangle. Since the accident, Suzuka has been removed from the MotoGP calendar, with the Japanese Grand Prix having been moved to Twin Ring Motegi, the previous home of the Pacific Grand Prix.

MotoGP classification After the Friday timed sessions Norifumi Abe, who was already competing in the event as a wild card entry, was designated as the replacement rider for the injured Marco Melandri. Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 46 Valentino Rossi Repsol Honda Honda 21 44:13.182 1 25 2 3 Max Biaggi Camel Pramac Pons Honda 21 +6.445 2 20 3 65 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 21 +8.209 15 16 4 15 Sete Gibernau Telefónica Movistar Honda Honda 21 +13.209 6 13 5 12 Troy Bayliss Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati 21 +23.099 13 11 6 45 Colin Edwards Alice Aprilia Racing Aprilia 21 +29.040 9 10 7 69 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Honda 21 +29.126 22 9 8 4 Alex Barros Gauloises Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +30.526 8 8 9 56 Shinya Nakano d'Antín Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +33.447 10 7 10 7 Carlos Checa Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +40.200 4 6 11 17 Norifumi Abe Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +44.790 14 5 12 41 Noriyuki Haga Alice Aprilia Racing Aprilia 21 +1:03.358 17 4 13 21 John Hopkins Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 21 +1:03.950 12 3 14 10 Kenny Roberts Jr. Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki 21 +1:04.085 7 2 15 19 Olivier Jacque Gauloises Yamaha Team Yamaha 21 +1:09.990 21 1 16 8 Garry McCoy Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:16.572 20 17 88 Andrew Pitt Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:17.380 23 18 48 Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 21 +1:23.605 18 19 25 Tamaki Serizawa Moriwaki Racing WCM MD211VF Proto 21 +1:35.459 16 20 11 Tohru Ukawa Camel Pramac Pons Honda 21 +1:57.128 3 Ret 6 Makoto Tamada Pramac Honda Honda 12 Accident 5 Ret 9 Nobuatsu Aoki Proton Team KR Proton KR 7 Retirement 19 Ret 99 Jeremy McWilliams Proton Team KR Proton KR 6 Accident 24 Ret 74 Daijiro Kato Telefónica Movistar Honda Honda 2 Fatal accident 11 DNS 35 Chris Burns WCM Harris WCM Did not start Sources:

Daijiro Kato died on 20 April 2003 from injuries sustained during the accident.

250 cc classification Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 54 Manuel Poggiali Aprilia 19 41:36.284 23 25 2 92 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda 19 +1.373 1 20 3 72 Yuki Takahashi Honda 19 +1.496 7 16 4 5 Sebastián Porto Honda 19 +1.700 6 13 5 21 Franco Battaini Aprilia 19 +11.771 16 11 6 10 Fonsi Nieto Aprilia 19 +13.220 9 10 7 3 Roberto Rolfo Honda 19 +13.497 4 9 8 8 Naoki Matsudo Yamaha 19 +14.027 5 8 9 68 Tekkyu Kayoh Yamaha 19 +24.546 12 7 10 50 Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia 19 +42.722 8 6 11 6 Alex Debón Honda 19 +43.246 3 5 12 36 Erwan Nigon Aprilia 19 +47.871 21 4 13 11 Joan Olivé Aprilia 19 +1:09.405 30 3 14 16 Johan Stigefelt Aprilia 19 +1:09.779 13 2 15 96 Jakub Smrž Honda 19 +1:21.048 10 1 16 34 Eric Bataille Honda 19 +1:21.788 28 17 13 Jaroslav Huleš Yamaha 19 +1:35.538 15 18 57 Chaz Davies Aprilia 19 +1:38.489 29 19 18 Henk vd Lagemaat Honda 19 +1:41.507 25 20 98 Katja Poensgen Honda 18 +1 lap 26 Ret 33 Héctor Faubel Aprilia 18 Accident 18 Ret 15 Christian Gemmel Honda 17 Accident 24 Ret 26 Alex Baldolini Aprilia 17 Retirement 11 Ret 14 Anthony West Aprilia 15 Accident 17 Ret 24 Toni Elías Aprilia 14 Retirement 27 Ret 71 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 10 Accident 2 Ret 7 Randy de Puniet Aprilia 4 Retirement 20 Ret 28 Dirk Heidolf Aprilia 0 Accident 19 Ret 67 Tomoyoshi Koyama Yamaha 0 Accident 22 Ret 9 Hugo Marchand Aprilia 0 Retirement 14 Source:

125 cc classification Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 7 Stefano Perugini Aprilia 18 40:53.083 5 25 2 6 Mirko Giansanti Aprilia 18 +0.037 4 20 3 17 Steve Jenkner Aprilia 18 +1.033 13 16 4 4 Lucio Cecchinello Aprilia 18 +6.701 3 13 5 34 Andrea Dovizioso Honda 18 +8.594 8 11 6 41 Youichi Ui Aprilia 18 +8.940 18 10 7 22 Pablo Nieto Aprilia 18 +9.083 11 9 8 3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda 18 +22.993 2 8 9 12 Thomas Lüthi Honda 18 +33.708 17 7 10 23 Gino Borsoi Aprilia 18 +34.234 20 6 11 36 Mika Kallio Honda 18 +34.280 34 5 12 24 Simone Corsi Honda 18 +35.245 28 4 13 11 Max Sabbatani Aprilia 18 +35.818 6 3 14 79 Gábor Talmácsi Aprilia 18 +35.945 23 2 15 42 Gioele Pellino Aprilia 18 +36.307 22 1 16 32 Fabrizio Lai Malaguti 18 +42.964 21 17 8 Masao Azuma Honda 18 +43.063 30 18 19 Álvaro Bautista Aprilia 18 +51.526 19 19 31 Julián Simón Malaguti 18 +57.880 24 20 65 Toshihisa Kuzuhara Honda 18 +58.129 25 21 58 Marco Simoncelli Aprilia 18 +58.412 15 22 63 Mike Di Meglio Aprilia 18 +1:16.078 33 23 10 Roberto Locatelli KTM 18 +1:17.164 27 24 25 Imre Tóth Honda 18 +1:21.140 31 25 14 Chris Martin Aprilia 18 +1:21.384 32 26 21 Leon Camier Honda 18 +1:56.001 36 27 67 Akio Tanaka Honda 17 +1 lap 37 Ret 66 Shuhei Aoyama Honda 17 Retirement 12 Ret 78 Péter Lénárt Honda 15 Accident 35 Ret 27 Casey Stoner Aprilia 8 Accident 7 Ret 33 Stefano Bianco Gilera 7 Accident 10 Ret 48 Jorge Lorenzo Derbi 7 Retirement 29 Ret 15 Alex de Angelis Aprilia 6 Accident 1 Ret 1 Arnaud Vincent KTM 2 Retirement 16 Ret 26 Emilio Alzamora Derbi 2 Retirement 14 Ret 80 Héctor Barberá Aprilia 1 Accident 9 Ret 68 Sadahito Suma Honda 1 Retirement 26 DNQ 64 Cheung Way On Honda Did not qualify Source:

Championship standings after the race (MotoGP)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.

Riders' Championship standings Rider Points 1 Valentino Rossi 25 2 Max Biaggi 20 3 Loris Capirossi 16 4 Sete Gibernau 13 5 Troy Bayliss 11

Constructors' Championship standings Constructor Points 1 Honda 25 2 Ducati 16 3 Aprilia 10 4 Yamaha 8 5 Suzuki 3

Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References