2007 FIM 250cc GP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia October 21, 2007 Race Results: 1. Hiroshi AOYAMA (KTM), 20 laps, 43:09.316 2. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), -2.251 seconds 3. Jorge LORENZO (Aprilia), -2.957 4. Mika KALLIO (KTM), -2.965 5. Thomas LUTHI (Aprilia), -7.305 6. Julian SIMON (Honda), -8.747 7. Roberto LOCATELLI (Gilera), -16.105 8. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), -26.101 9. Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda), -28.032 10. Aleix ESPARGARO (Aprilia), -34.754 11. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), -35.888, crash 24. Alex DE ANGELIS (Aprilia), -10 laps, DNF, crash 26. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Aprilia), -14 laps, DNF, retired 250cc GP World Championship Point Standings (After 16 of 17 races): 1. Lorenzo, 303 points 2. Dovizioso, 247 3. De Angelis, 215 4. Bautista, 181 5. Barbera, 166 6. Hiroshi Aoyama, 154 7. Kallio, 132 8. Luthi, 126 9. Simon, 113 10. Simoncelli, 92 More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Jorge Lorenzo – 2007 250cc World Champion Biography – Sunday 21st October 125cc Jorge Lorenzo first began riding as a three year old back home in Mallorca, and just months later was taking part in his first minicross races, before taking the Balaeric title in 1995. A year later he won the island’s minicross, trial, minimoto and junior motocross titles. In 1997 he had his first national races, winning the Aprilia 50cc Cup a year later, before a special dispensation saw him compete in the national 125 series aged just 13 in 2000. He also competed in Europe in 2001, and became the youngest ever winner of a European race. Lorenzo became the youngest rider ever to compete in a Grand Prix when he made the legal age limit of 15 on the second day of qualifying at Jerez in 2002. He astounded onlookers by qualifying for the race on the Derbi machine and he quickly became an established figure, often out-qualifying his team-mate Emilio Alzamora, the former World Champion. In 2003 Lorenzo came of age with his first Grand Prix victory at Rio and won three more races before the end of the 2004 season, taking his podium tally to nine, before stepping up to the 250cc class for 2005 with Fortuna Honda. Although in 2005 the top step of the podium proved elusive, he still managed six podium finishes and four pole positions as he made his adaptation to the class. Changing from Honda to Aprilia machinery at the beginning of 2006, Lorenzo dominated last season with 8 wins and a record-equalling 10 pole positions to clinch the title. It was more of the same for 2007, with another season of domination culminating in a second World Championship title. Over the course of the season so far he has taken 9 pole positions and won from each of them. Birth date: 04/05/1987 (20 years old) Birth place: Palma de Mallorca, SPA First Grand Prix:2002 SPA 125cc First Pole Position: 2003 MAL 125cc First Podium: 2003 BRA 125cc First GP Victory: 2003 BRA 125cc Grand Prix Starts: 93 Grand Prix Victories: 21 Podiums: 38 Pole Positions: 26 Race Fastest Lap: 7 World Championship Win: 2 – 2006,2007 – 250cc Total Points 2006: 303 *all data correct at 21/10/2007 (Malaysian GP) MotoGP Career – 2002: 125cc World Championship, 21st position, Caja Madrid Derbi Racing, Derbi – 14 starts, 21 points – 2003: 125cc World Championship, 12th position, Caja Madrid Derbi Racing, Derbi – 16 starts, 79 points – 2004: 125cc World Championship, 4th position, Caja Madrid Derbi Racing, Derbi – 16 starts, 179 points – 2005: 250cc World Championship, 5th position, Fortuna Honda Team, Honda – 15 starts, 167 points – 2006: 250cc World Championship, 1st position, Fortuna Aprilia Team, Aprilia – 16 starts, 289 points – 2007: 250cc World Championship, 1st position, Fortuna Aprilia Team, Aprilia – 16 starts, 303 points Some facts about Lorenzo’s achievement “¢ Lorenzo is the third Spanish rider to win back-to-back titles in the 250cc class along with Sito Pons and Dani Pedrosa. “¢ He is the most successful Spanish rider of all time in the 250cc class with seventeen victories, one more than both Pons and Pedrosa. “¢ Lorenzo had eight wins in 2006 and nine in 2007. Max Biaggi is the only other rider ever to have eight or more wins in successive years in the 250cc class. “¢ He is the second most successful Aprilia rider of all time in the 250cc class; only Max Biaggi with 23 victories has been more successful. “¢ Max Biaggi is also the only other rider who has won back-to-back 250cc world titles riding for Aprilia. “¢ He is the second youngest rider ever to win back-to-back 250cc titles after fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa. “¢ Jorge Lorenzo has started from pole on 23 occasions including being the youngest ever rider to start from pole in the 250cc class at the Italian Grand Prix in 2005. Only one rider of the “modern-era” of Grand Prix racing (since 1974) has had more poles in the 250cc class; Max Biaggi with 33. More, from a press release issued by KTM: Aoyama triumphs in Malaysia for 3rd 250 cc career win on KTM Red Bull KTM’s Hiroshi Aoyama on Sunday underlined that he is both a superb rider and a master tactician on Sunday to ride his KTM 250 FRR machine to victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Aoyama started on pole to score his second victory of the season after Germany and his third career victory onboard the orange machine after winning his home GP in Japan in 2006. Aoyama also registered the fastest lap of 2:08.266 on Sunday in the final of the 20-lap race. The 25-year-old Japanese rider made a stunning charge to move from fourth to first in the last two laps of the race. He had taken a cautious approach in the opening laps but his choice of hard and durable tyre compounds, especially for the front, paid off towards the end when he had more in reserve than his opponents. Aoyama’s second win of the season is also the third victory of the year for Red Bull KTM in the 250 cc category after team-mate Mika Kallio won in Japan. A clearly delighted Aoyama admitted it had been a tough race in the tropical heat and high humidity that he said was hard on both riders and tyres. In what is evolving as typical Aoyama tactics, he was able to come from behind after a slower start. “We thought we would have some front end grip problems during the race, as the new tarmac of this track is very aggressive on the tyres,” Aoyama commented. “I am very grateful to my team that we were able to find a solution for this. We chose the hardest available tyre for the front, because especially the right hand side was critical over the whole race distance. Sure enough, I could see the other riders sliding towards the end, but I still had something in reserve. “In the beginning of the race, I just tried to keep my own rhythm, to save my tyres and also to be kind to the engine, but as the race went on, things went better and better and I caught up with the group that Mika was in. I started to push a little bit because there weren’t too many laps to go. On the last lap I pushed as hard as I could and I did my best lap time.” Aoyama, whose European base is in Spain said he felt confident that the team also had a good chance of winning the final race in Valencia. Aoyama also offered his congratulations to Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo who secured the championship title in Sunday’s Malaysian GP. Kallio had also looked set for a podium finish on the Sepang circuit. The 24-year-old Finn rode ahead of Aoyama for most of the race, but things took a different turn when he got into a tussle with Andrea Dovizioso in the third lap from the finish and clipped the rear wheel of the Italian rider. Dovizioso crashed and Kallio lost valuable time although was still able to finish in fourth place in a race that was a real heart stopper in the closing stages. Kallio said he had tyre problems in the early stages of the race. “The feeling started to improve after the first half of the race and it was enough that I could keep steady lap times. Then I saw we were closing in on Dovizioso and Lorenzo. I kept pushing to catch them and I thought I would stay where I was and see what would happen in the last lap,” the Finn said. “Of course it was my mistake when I touched Dovi. I overtook Hiro and then I saw Dovizioso closing the door. He took a completely different line than me and I touched his rear tyre. I am not happy at all that this happened, but sometimes racing is like this. Without that, we would have had a good chance to win. I am also sorry for Dovizioso!”