Japan GP. Previous Info

A new world championship starts this weekend in Japan
As usual at this time of the year, the Grand Prix of Japan will be opening the World Motorcycling Championship 2002 this weekend. Many expectations have risen due to the new four-stroke category called Moto GP that will definitively replace the 500cc category in 2003. This season, the two- and four-stroke bikes will be sharing the track, but next year the 500cc bikes will disappear, making way for the four stroke engines. This season, Repsol will have a significant presence in the three categories. In the highest category, now called Moto GP, Repsol will be the main sponsor of the official Honda Team, following an already close co-operation with the golden wing brand during seven seasons. The riders of the Repsol Honda Moto GP team are the spectacular current 500cc World Champion Valentino Rossi, and the Japanese Tohru Ukawa, a rider with great experience riding 4-stroke bikes and one of the few riders that can presume of his three victories in the Suzuka 8 Hours. In the 250cc category, Repsol will have a complete structure with two of the most promising Spanish riders of the moment: Fonsi Nieto and Toni Elias. Nieto finished fifth overall in the 2001 World Championship and will have to fight weekend by weekend to get on the podium and try to be among those riders fighting for the championship title at the end of the season. For Toni Elias, his first season in the 250cc category will be a year for learning and progressing. And in the 125cc category, Repsol will also be on the fairing of the Honda RS 125 of Daniel Pedrosa and Joan Olivé, two young projects of the incombustible former rider Alberto Puig. Pedrosa, eight overall in the last World Championship, and his team mate Olivé, nineteenth, will take part in their second Championship under the supervision of Alberto Puig. This season must be of great help for their particular evolution process and knowing the circuits will for sure be a big advantage both for Pedrosa and for Olive.