– Loris Capirossi is still the youngest world champion in the history of the Motorcycle World Championship. And he is now officially a MotoGP legend. On Saturday, “Capirex” was awarded the honorary medal in Misano. With the now 53-year-old Italian, there are now more than 40 riders who have been inducted into the circle of MotoGP legends (photo gallery: All MotoGP legends).
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Capirossi became famous when he set the still valid age record in the 125cc season in 1990. He won the world championship title at the age of 17 years and 165 days. Pedro Acosta came within one day (!) of this record in the Moto3 season 2021. However, since the Spaniard was 17 years and 166 days old at the time of his title win, Capirossi remains the record holder to this day.
“It is the dream of all of us to be a MotoGP legend one day,” said Capirossi on Saturday in Misano. “I thank everyone for that, including all the manufacturers I raced for. I have learned a lot in my career, but above all I have made many friends. And I am still here. What I want to say is: I dedicate this honor to my family, my mother, my father, my brother, my wife, and my son.”
In total, Capirossi achieved three titles in his world championship career from 1990 to 2011. In the 125cc class, he became world champion again in 1991 as the defending champion. He also won the title in the 250cc class in the 1998 season under much-discussed circumstances at the time.
In the premier class, where he initially competed from 1995 to 1996 and later from 2000 to 2011, Capirossi secured nine Grand Prix wins, including the first Ducati victory in Barcelona in 2003. However, he did not win a world championship title in the premier class. He finished third in the world championship twice: in the 500cc season 2001 and in the MotoGP season 2006.
Capirossi celebrated his first win in the premier class at the 500cc season finale in 1996 at Eastern Creek (Australia) on a Yamaha. His last win was at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2007 in Motegi on a Ducati. Apart from Yamaha and Ducati, the Italian also raced for Honda and Suzuki in the premier class.
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In total, Capirossi started 328 times in the Motorcycle World Championship, 217 of them in the premier class. In his case, 59 starts were in the 500cc era, the remaining 158 in the MotoGP era. Regarding his total 328 starts in world championship races, Capirossi was fourth on the all-time list at the time of his induction as a MotoGP legend. Only three riders have started more races to date: Aleix Espargaro (344), Andrea Dovizioso (346), and record holder Valentino Rossi (432).
Rossi is also the only one who surpasses Capirossi when it comes to the longest time span between first and last Grand Prix win. In Capirossi’s case, it was 17 years and 49 days from his first 125cc win (Donington 1990) to his last MotoGP win (Motegi 2007). In Rossi’s case, it was even 20 years and 311 days from his first 125cc win (Brno 1996) to his last MotoGP win (Assen 2017).
Capirossi raced with the number 65 for most of his long world championship career. This number is one of many that have been officially retired in the premier class. In the case of #65, the retirement was officially announced in 2016 in Valencia. At that time, Capirossi’s retirement from active racing was exactly five years ago (photo gallery: All MotoGP numbers that are no longer issued).
While Capirossi’s longtime rival and friend Valentino Rossi already focused on car racing towards the end of his motorcycle career, and even more so since the end of that career, Capirossi has been a safety officer at the Motorcycle World Federation (FIM) for years. In this role, he takes care of the correct safety-related procedures at MotoGP race weekends and regularly drives the safety car, among other duties.
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