# 2003 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

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: |||||||||

## 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.
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Valentino Rossi | 25 |
| 2 | Max Biaggi | 20 |
| 3 | Loris Capirossi | 16 |
| 4 | Sete Gibernau | 13 |
| 5 | Troy Bayliss | 11 |
| Pos. | 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.