The 2009 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 61st F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. The season consisted out of 17 races for the MotoGP class and 16 for the 125cc and 250cc classes, beginning with the Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix on 12 April 2009 and ending with the Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix on 8 November.
As announced during 2008, MotoGP class switched to a single-tyre manufacturer ending a previous Tyre war between Dunlop, Bridgestone, and Michelin that started in the 2002 season (though Dunlop left as a tyre manufacturer in 2007). The move was made to try to improve safety by reducing cornering speeds, and in a marginal way for cost reasons; the winner was decided by bid. [1] Michelin, one of the two tyre suppliers in 2008, decided not to bid for the supply, [2] effectively declaring Bridgestone the winner, which was confirmed on 18 October 2008. [3] Bridgestone will be the sole tyre supplier from 2009 to 2011. Only race spec tyres will be provided to the teams, eliminating qualifying tyres, in use until 2008.
Other cost-cutting manoeuvers were made during the winter prior to the season, to try to contain the rising costs of the sport, especially during a period of economic downturn. FIM was especially concerned, fearing that defections among private and factory teams could leave the grid with 14 bikes only. [4]
After negotiations between FIM, Dorna and MSMA (the manufacturers' association), new measures were adopted. The Friday morning free practice session was eliminated, limiting the Friday practice time to a single 45-minute session (later brought to a 1-hour session from the French GP onwards [5] ); a limit of 5 engines was imposed for the last 7 races, with a 10-point penalty for each additional engine used; [6] ceramic composite materials for brakes were banned; electronic assistance was reduced with the ban of electronic controlled suspensions and launch control systems; Monday tests will be cancelled except for Catalunya and Brno, where only test riders will be allowed to take part. [7]
With a somewhat unexpected announcement, Kawasaki made public its intention to withdraw from MotoGP immediately on 9 January 2009, citing the global economic downturn as the main cause of the decision. [8] Initial negotiations between Dorna and Kawasaki aimed to run the two bikes with the private Aspar team, [9] but after further talks, on 26 February 2009 Kawasaki announced its decision to remain in the category, running a single bike team with Marco Melandri, effectively leaving John Hopkins without a contract. [10] The team ran under the Hayate Racing banner, as announced on 1 March 2009. [11]
Valentino Rossi won his sixth MotoGP title, seventh in the top class and ninth title in total after getting the better of teammate Jorge Lorenzo in a season-long battle. The season was marked by the dominance of Yamaha duo Rossi and Lorenzo, with occasional wins for Dani Pedrosa and Casey Stoner. Riding the factory Ducati, 2007 champion Stoner won the opener in Qatar as well as a rain-hit race in Italy to open up a championship lead after six rounds. Inconsistent handling from the Ducati as well as health problems for Stoner causing fatigue saw him drop out of the title fight by mid-season, whereas Pedrosa and Lorenzo crashed more often than Rossi who built up a sizeable lead to win the title.
In the final 250cc championship (it was replaced by the Moto2 class in 2010), Hiroshi Aoyama became the third Japanese rider to win that title, after Tetsuya Harada and Daijiro Kato.
In the 125cc class, Julián Simón won the title after taking seven victories during the season.
The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 2009: [12] [13]
The 2009 revised race schedule was released on 24 October 2008. [14] A Hungarian round was originally scheduled for 20 September 2009 [15] but the organizers asked Dorna to postpone the event to 2010 due to delays in the construction of the Balatonring circuit. [16]
Due to adverse weather conditions, the Qatar MotoGP race was postponed until 13 April. [17]
The following changes are made to the regulation for the 2009 season: [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]
A big overhaul has been made to the standard time schedule for all days. The Friday morning Free Practice session will be cancelled for all three classes and the three MotoGP Practice Sessions, as well as Saturday Qualifying, will be shortened from one hour to 45 minutes. Warm-Up times and Race distances are not altered.
For the Free Practice one sessions on Friday, the times are now as follows:
For the Free Practice two and Qualifying Practice sessions on Saturday, the times are now as follows:
For the Warm-Up and Race sessions on Sunday, the times are now as follows:
Only two post-race tests are now allowed. The circuits chosen are the Catalan and Czech ones and the tests are only allowed if they are for development purposes and if test riders are used.
These rules were additionally added on the 25th of July 2009:
The same goes for the winter period. It is forbidden to use contracted riders to practice with MotoGP at any circuit. The following exceptions apply to this rule if:
Rules for the practice by non-contracted riders have been changed. The practice by non-contracted or test riders is permitted at any circuit at all times, but is limited specifically by the use of a maximum of 240 tyres per manufacturer, per calendar year, which is solely supplied by the MotoGP tyre supplier. There is an exception to this rule however and it is forbidden to test during the season and the breaks at a circuit included on the calendar before the race there has happened. Nonetheless, manufacturers can designate and inform the Race Direction of the two circuits where they can test before 31 January of each year, but not within fourteen days of the scheduled event at the circuits. Said schedule of these tests and any following amendments must have to be told to the Race Direction at least seven days ahead of time.
The definition of a 'contracted rider' and a 'rookie rider' have been clarified. A contracted rider is a rider who has ridden in nine or more events during a single season. A rookie is a rider who is submitted by a participating team for participation in the full season but is not a contracted rider as is defined in the same class in any past season. For the purpose of this section, the old 500cc and MotoGP class are considered to be the same as well as the current 250cc, which will be renamed to the Moto2 class in 2010.
This rule was additionally added on the 24th of August 2009:
These rules were additionally added on the 25th of July 2009:
- The crankcase can't be opened. For example, the crankcase halves are wired together.
Teams are allowed to replace all the parts which can be accessed without having to remove the sealing wiring. If the sealing wiring is broken or removed without direction by the Technical Direction, the engine will be considered "rebuilt" and engines with broken or missing security seals will be treated as a wholly new engine in the allocation. If a competitor, for any reason (mechanical failure, crash, major damage and so on) has to use another engine above their allocation, the Technical Director has to be informed before said engine can be used so that the Race Direction can apply the proper penalty. The damaged engine will be removed from the allocation and, if it is to be used again, will be treated as a new engine with the fitting penalty applied. There is no limit to the number of times a sealed, allocated engine can be fitted to and used in a bike, on the condition that the security seal is not broken or removed. Replacing an engine with another sealed engine, be it new or used, from the rider's allocation is allowed and no penalty shall be given if done. To prevent the running of a used, allocated engine outside of any MotoGP races, all the allocated engines will have security seals placed over either the exhaust or inlet ports (on at least one cylinder bank if the engine is a V-type) before it can leave the circuit. If a team wants to re-use such an allocated and sealed engine, it must first request to the Technical Director to remove all security seals. If the Technical Director or his staff discover that the security seals are not intact, the engine will be branded as a new engine in the allocation and a penalty will be handed out.
All entries taken from the official MotoGP site. [28]
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Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider had to finish the race to earn points.
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
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Bold – Pole position |
Pos | Constructor | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | USA ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 386 |
2 | ![]() | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 297 |
3 | ![]() | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 272 |
4 | ![]() | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 133† |
5 | ![]() | 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 8 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 108 |
Pos | Constructor | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | USA ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
† Following Loris Capirossi's engine change, Suzuki was given a ten-point penalty in the constructors' championship at the Australian Grand Prix because of the new for 2009 MotoGP engine change limit rule which restricts each rider to five engines for the final seven rounds.
Pos | Team | Bike No. | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | USA ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 46 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | Ret | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 567 |
99 | 3 | 1 | Ret | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | Ret | Ret | 1 | 2 | 1 | Ret | 4 | 3 | |||
2 | ![]() | 3 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Ret | 6 | Ret | 1 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 394 |
4 | 5 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 6 | Ret | 8 | |||
3 | ![]() | 27 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 1 | DNS | 341 | |||
36 | Ret | 8 | 7 | |||||||||||||||||
69 | 12 | Ret | 15 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 15 | 6 | 3 | Ret | 8 | 15 | 5 | 5 | |||
4 | ![]() | 5 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 2 | 7 | 5 | Ret | 5 | 5 | 13 | 4 | 253 |
52 | 16 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 13 | 6 | DSQ | 10 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 14 | 15 | 12 | |||
5 | ![]() | 15 | 6 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 2 | Ret | Ret | 4 | 12 | 10 | 226 |
24 | 9 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 14 | Ret | 12 | 6 | 6 | Ret | 3 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 6 | |||
6 | ![]() | 7 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 15 | 216 |
65 | Ret | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 9 | Ret | 11 | 11 | 5 | 7 | 5 | Ret | 12 | 9 | 14 | |||
7 | ![]() | 33 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 7 | Ret | Ret | 8 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 108 |
8 | ![]() | 36 | 8 | 8 | Ret | Ret | 13 | 9 | Ret | 14 | 10 | Ret | 9 | 10 | 9 | 108 | ||||
44 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 13 | ||||||||||||||||
84 | Ret | |||||||||||||||||||
88 | 17 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 12 | Ret | 13 | 13 | DNS | |||||
9 | ![]() | 14 | 10 | 11 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | Ret | 3 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 8 | Ret | 11 | 106 |
10 | ![]() | 41 | 17 | 16 | Ret | 15 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 14 | 16 | 28 | |||||
72 | 15 | Ret | 12 | 13 | Ret | Ret | 15 | |||||||||||||
11 | ![]() | 59 | 13 | Ret | 11 | 15 | 13 | Ret | 12 | |||||||||||
Pos | Team | Bike No. | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | USA ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider had to finish the race to earn points.
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
Bold – Pole position |
Pos | Constructor | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 339 |
2 | ![]() | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 287 |
3 | ![]() | 9 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Ret | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | Ret | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 245 |
4 | ![]() | 14 | DNQ | DNQ | 18 | 2 | ||||||||||||
Pos | Constructor | QAT ![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider had to finish the race to earn points.
Position | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Points | 25 | 20 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|
Bold – Pole position |
† Half-points awarded in Qatar, as the riders did not complete the sufficient distance for full points.
Pos | Constructor | QAT †![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 373.5 |
2 | ![]() | 3 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 216 |
3 | ![]() | 16 | 5 | 3 | Ret | 5 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 19 | 9 | 17 | 17 | 96 |
4 | ![]() | 23 | 24 | 23 | 13 | 21 | 21 | 14 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 23 | 17 | 22 | 18 | 5 | 25 | |
5 | ![]() | 26 | 12 | Ret | Ret | Ret | 16 | Ret | 10 | 11 | 21 | Ret | 28 | 25 | 21 | 19 | 20 | 17 |
![]() | 24 | 20 | 0 | |||||||||||||||
![]() | Ret | DNS | DNS | DNQ | 0 | |||||||||||||
Pos | Constructor | QAT †![]() | JPN ![]() | SPA ![]() | FRA ![]() | ITA ![]() | CAT ![]() | NED ![]() | GER ![]() | GBR ![]() | CZE ![]() | INP ![]() | RSM ![]() | POR ![]() | AUS ![]() | MAL ![]() | VAL ![]() | Pts |
† Half-points awarded in Qatar, as the riders did not complete the sufficient distance for full points.