The 2005 Chinese motorcycle Grand Prix was the third round of the 2005 MotoGP Championship. It took place on the weekend of 29 April – 1 May 2005 at the Shanghai International Circuit. It was the first time that MotoGP raced in China.
MotoGP race report
This race was most notable for the very wet race conditions, as well as Valentino Rossi's win and Olivier Jacque's first and only podium on the Kawasaki.
After two races, it is Valentino Rossi who has a narrow lead in the standings with 45 points, followed by Brazilian veteran Alex Barros with 38 points and Marco Melandri with 29 points.
During Saturday qualifying it was Sete Gibernau who took his first pole position of the year with a time of 1:59.710, followed by Marco Melandri in second and Loris Capirossi in third place. The second row of the grid consists out of John Hopkins, Nicky Hayden and finally Valentino Rossi in fourth, fifth and sixth position. Olivier Jacque only managed to qualify a lowly fifteenth, replacing the injured Alex Hofmann after not racing for seven months and Dutch veteran Jurgen van den Goorbergh replaced the injured Makoto Tamada as well.
All the riders make their way through the warm-up lap, then line up on their respective grid slots. As the lights go out, Hopkins blasts past Melandri and then Gibernau, who goes wide entering Turn 1 to take a surprise lead on the opening lap. Gibernau goes from first to third as teammate Melandri snatches second from him. At the first sector, the top six is as follows: Hopkins, Melandri, Gibernau, Kenny Roberts Jr., Nicky Hayden and Rossi. At Turn 5, Rossi takes fifth from Hayden and Roberts Jr. picks up two positions at Turn 6 by passing both Gibernau and Melandri on the outside, catapulting him into second behind his teammate. At Turn 8, Rossi also makes quick work of Melandri by going down his inside and effortlessly passing the Movistar Honda rider for fourth place. Rossi then also passes Gibernau for third, going side by side with him at the short straight before Turn 11 but taking the lead by going up his inside. Hopkins then makes a mistake at Turn 12, going wide and gifting Roberts Jr. the lead and Rossi second place. Gibernau also goes slightly wide, granting Toni Elías - who had worked his way up the field - just enough space to steal fourth place away from him. Elías then goes up the inside and takes third from a now struggling Hopkins at the end of the long straight before Turn 14.
On lap two, Roberts Jr. has pulled a slight gap back to Rossi, who is being pursuited himself by Elías. A gap back to Hopkins now also has formed. Max Biaggi goes up the inside of Gibernau at Turn 1 for fifth place. Coming out of Turn 4, he has a bit of a wobble which allows Gibernau to almost retake the place. At the entrance of Turn 7, Biaggi then tries a move at the inside on Hopkins for fourth, the American holding on as they go side by side through the corner and winning the battle with Biaggi, who then gets overtaken by Gibernau instead as he exits the corner with poor traction. At Turn 11, Gibernau takes fourth away from Hopkins by diving up his inside, with Biaggi trying likewise and almost clipping the back of Hopkins as a result. Exiting the swooping Turn 13, Biaggi and Melandri both overtake Hopkins coming up to the long straight, making good use of their superior Honda top speed to pass the Suzuki effortlessly. At the end of the straight, multiple riders make their moves. Hopkins repasses Melandri for sixth, Capirossi passes Hayden for - and runs wide doing so, allowing Jacque to pass both riders for eighth place. Barros also manages to overtake van den Goorbergh for eleventh, with Troy Bayliss trying likewise but the Dutchman holding him off at Turn 16. Jacque then gets passed by Hayden at the short straight before Turn 16, demoting him to ninth position.
Lap three and Rossi has closed the gap to leader Roberts Jr by now. Jacque, making good use of a good exit of the final corner, retakes eighth from Hayden but with Capirossi using his Ducati speed on the start/finish straight before Turn 1, he passes both riders, demoting the Frenchman to ninth and the American to tenth place. Van den Goorbergh also managed to pass both Barros and Hayden at the first sector, then passes Capirossi on the inside of Turn 7 by taking a tighter line for ninth position, with Jacque also having passed the Italian earlier on to reclaim eighth place. Jacque's teammate Shinya Nakano retires from the race due to technical problems. Jacque then takes two positions in two corners - one by diving down the inside of Melandri at Turn 11 for seventh and the other by exiting better out of Turn 12 to pass Hopkins at the beginning of the long straight. Hopkins goes up the inside of Melandri for sixth at the end of the long straight, with Jacque and Van den Goorbergh right behind the battling duo.
On lap four, the top nine looks as follows: Roberts Jr. - who just set the fastest lap of the race -, Rossi, Elías, Gibernau, Biaggi, Hopkins, Melandri, Jacque and Van den Goorbergh. Gibernau passes Elías and takes third at the entry of Turn 1, with Dutchman Van den Goorbergh taking eighth place from Jacque as well by passing him on the inside of Turn 1. Melandri tries likewise at the exit for sixth place but fails and almost touches the rear of Hopkins in the process. Roberts Jr. at the front meanwhile has a significant gap back to Rossi, with the Italian having an even bigger gap back to Elías in third. It is then signalled that Barros has jumped the start, meaning he has to come in and serve a penalty. Biaggi has also overtaken Elías for fourth. Elías has also been accredited with a jump start, making him the second rider to have been accredited a jump start.
Lap five and Rossi is now slowly closing the gap to Roberts Jr. 'The Doctor' has a little moment as he touches the white line at Turn 5 but doesn't lose any time or positions from it. Roberts Jr. then runs wide at the Turn 6 hairpin, gifting Rossi the lead of the race. Bayliss has gone down and Roberts Jr. is slowing significantly, stopping on the outside of Turn 11. He then continues, but is practically out of contention due to technical problems. This moves Gibernau up into second and Biaggi up into third place.
On lap six, Hopkins sets the fastest lap of the race in fifth position. Jacque has moved up into sixth and Van den Goorbergh into seventh thanks to the Frenchman overtaking Van den Goorbergh and because of Roberts Jr.'s retirement. Carlos Checa in the back has also crashed out at Turn 16 - sliding very far onto the pit road due to the vast levels of water on the circuit - the rider running to his machine to get back into the race but to no avail. Roberts Jr. now has made it back into the pits, confirming his retirement. Exiting Turn 9, Jacque has a big moment, almost causing him to crash but somehow holds on and doesn't lose a place. At the end of the long straight before Turn 14, Hopkins passes the now fading Elías for fourth place, Jacque then trying to do the same but running wide, allowing the Spaniard to reclaim fifth place. Just as it looks like Jacque makes a move to take fifth place again, Elías goes straight on into the pits to take his jumpstart penalty, promoting the Frenchman up to fifth without much effort.
Lap seven has started and Rossi now sets the fastest lap of the race. Elías now has taken his penalty and rejoins at the back of the field. Hopkins - comfortably in fourth - goes wide exiting Turn 3 and into the gravel trap. The rider manages to stay on the bike and continue his race, albeit a couple of places down. This promotes Jacque up into fourth position. The gap Rossi has to Gibernau in sector 2 is +5.702 seconds, then it increases to +5.965 seconds at sector 3.
On lap eight, the top nine is as follows: Rossi, Gibernau, Biaggi, Jacque, Van den Goorbergh, Melandri, Barros, Hayden and Capirossi. The gap Rossi has to Gibernau has increased again, this time it is +5.996 seconds. Barros comes into the pits to serve his jumpstart penalty, demoting him to the back of the field as well.
Lap nine and the gap Rossi has to Gibernau has decreased slightly, from +5.996 to +5.898 seconds. Barros exits the pits and is well behind the leading group now. During this lap, Jacque has caught third place Biaggi and overtakes him at the entry of Turn 11 for third, going up his inside and outbreaking him. Biaggi gets back at him by using his superior Honda top end speed at the end of the long straight leading up to Turn 14, retaking the bottom step of the podium. Jacque then retakes third once more by diving down the inside of the Italian at the short left-hand kink of Turn 16.
On lap ten and Jacque sets a surprise fast lap, still being harassed by Biaggi as he does so. Biaggi tries to lunge at his inside at Turn 1 but isn't able to, allowing Jacque to now ride away and hunt down Gibernau for second position. The gap Gibernau has to Jacque is +1.448 seconds in sector 2, diminishing to +1.254 seconds in sector 3.
Lap eleven - the halfway point of the race - and Jacque sets another fastest lap, still hunting down Gibernau. Van den Goorbergh is still in fifth place behind Biaggi. Jacque is still closing down the gap to Gibernau.
On lap twelve, Jacque now caught the Spaniard and is right behind him all throughout the lap. Exiting Turn 13, Jacque gets on the kerb and has a bit of a wobble but doesn't crash or lose places.
Lap thirteen and Jacque is still all over the back of Gibernau. However, he is not able to make a move on Frenchman due to the superior top end speed of the Honda.
Crossing the line to start lap fourteen, Rossi now sets the fastest lap of the race. Jacque is still stalking Gibernau's Honda.
On lap fifteen, Melandri sixth placed Melandri now sets the fastest lap of the race. He is right behind Van den Goorbergh but runs his bike wide at Turn 6, making him lose ground to the Dutchman. Rossi's teammate Colin Edwards is shown with a puff of smoke coming out of his engine exiting Turn 14 on the previous lap, but it is unclear whether or not he has engine troubles. It is on this lap that Jacque has also finally managed to pass Gibernau for second position, now setting his sights for race leader Rossi.
Lap sixteen and the top nine consists out of Rossi, Jacque, Gibernau, Biaggi, Van den Goorbergh, Melandri, Hayden, Hopkins and Edwards, who does not seem to have any engine problems. Rossi's gap to Jacque is +6.181 seconds in sector 1, then increases to +6.230 seconds in sector 2. Melandri meanwhile has overtaken Van den Goorbergh and is now right behind Biaggi, chasing down fourth place.
On lap seventeen, Melandri shadows Biaggi, then makes a move by outbreaking him at Turn 6, taking fourth. Rossi's gap to Jacque is now +5.889 seconds.
Lap eighteen and Jacque is still clawing back time from Rossi. The gap Rossi has to Jacque is now +5.201 seconds, then diminishes even more to +5.023 seconds at sector 1. The gap in sector 2 increases again slightly to +5.091 seconds.
As Rossi crosses the line and lap nineteen begins, his gap to Jacque has now decreased even further - from +5.091 to +4.379 seconds. The gap in sector 2 has decreased even further to +3.745, then got cut again to +3.493 in sector 3.
On lap twenty, Rossi's gap to Jacque continues to get slimmer - now only being +3.297 seconds. Jacque also sets the fastest lap of the race as well. In sector 1, the gap decreases slightly to +3.190 seconds. In sector 2, the gap comes down again to +3.141 and in sector 3, the gap increases again slightly to +3.236 due to a slight moment Jacque had coming out of Turn 13.