Hiroshi Aoyama

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Hiroshi Aoyama

Aoyama at the 2009 Japanese Grand Prix.
Nationality Japan Japanese
Born October 25, 1981 (1981-10-25) (age 30)
Ichihara, Chiba (Japan)
Current team Castrol Honda World Superbike Team
Bike number 7
Website hiro-aoyama.com
Motorcycle racing career statistics
MotoGP World Championship
Active years 2010–2011
Manufacturers Honda
Championships 0
2010 Championship position 10th (98 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
29 0 0 0 0 151
250cc World Championship
Active years 2000–2009
Manufacturers Honda, KTM
Championships 1 (2009)
2009 Championship position 1st (261 pts)
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
104 9 27 8 11 1112

Hiroshi Aoyama (青山 博一 Aoyama Hiroshi?, born October 25, 1981 in Ichihara, Chiba) is a Japanese Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He is the older brother of former 250cc and World Superbike rider, Shuhei Aoyama.

In his six seasons in the 250cc World Championship, he raced Honda and KTM machinery in an Aprilia-dominated class. He took eight victories and never finished lower than seventh overall. He won the 2009 250cc World Championship, becoming the last ever winner of this class before its replacement by the Moto2 class in 2010. In 2010 Aoyama makes the move up to the premier class with Interwetten Racing.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] Early years

He first raced in MiniMoto at the age of 4, racing against Yuki Takahashi, who he has raced against for most of his career. In 2008 he referred to Takahashi as a "respected rival".

He rode in the All-Japan Road Racing Championship until 2003, when he won the 250cc championship with Honda. He also rode a couple of events as wildcard rider in the Grand Prix World Championships, finishing 2nd in the 2003 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.

[edit] World championship

Aoyama, riding a KTM, at the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix.

In 2004 he joined the 250cc World Championship full-time, still racing for Honda. His debut season gave him two third places and 6th place in the championship. In the following year he scored his maiden victory in his home race at Motegi and finished the championship in 4th place.

However, he wasn't able to stay on at Honda, so he moved to KTM for 2006 season. He brought them victories in Istanbul and Motegi, the first two for the manufacturer in the class. For the second year in row, he was 4th in overall standings.

Aoyama ended the 2007 season in sixth place in the 250 championship with victories in Germany and Malaysia. He remained with KTM for the 2008 season and finished the season in seventh place with two second-place finishes.

After KTM's withdrawal from 250cc class, Aoyama returned to Honda with Team Scot replacing his rival Yuki Takahashi who briefly moved up to MotoGP class. The season went well as he scored 4 wins, 3 second places and finished every other race in the points. At last race of the season Aoyama became the world champion.

Aoyama will step up to MotoGP in 2010 onboard the Emmi Caffé Latte Team Honda RC212V. In initial testing the team (which is itself new to MotoGP) opted not to use the electronic rider aids, despite the bikes being designed around them. The team's technical director Tom Jojic explained that he wanted Aoyama to experience the bike's true nature, and believes that he is good enough to be competitive on it.[1] His season was wrecked by a fractured vertebra sustained in a practice crash at Silverstone, eliminating him for much of the season.[2]

Aoyama was a consistent race finisher in 2011, mainly finishing in the bottom end of the top ten, but finished fourth in the Spanish Grand Prix. Aoyama also replaced Dani Pedrosa on the factory-spec Repsol Honda bike for the Dutch TT in Assen, after Pedrosa's injury at the French Grand Prix. Aoyama will move to World Superbikes for the 2012 season, joining Jonathan Rea at Castrol Honda.

[edit] Career statistics

Aoyama at the 2010 British Grand Prix.

[edit] By season

Seas Class Moto Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts Plcd WCh
2000 250cc Honda 1 0 0 0 0 8 28th –
2001 250cc Honda 2 0 0 0 0 3 28th –
2002 250cc Honda 2 0 0 0 0 9 27th –
2003 250cc Honda 2 0 1 1 1 31 15th –
2004 250cc Honda RS250RW 16 0 2 0 0 128 6th –
2005 250cc Honda RS250RW 16 1 4 2 0 180 4th –
2006 250cc KTM 16 2 7 1 4 193 4th –
2007 250cc KTM 250 FPR 17 2 4 1 2 160 6th –
2008 250cc KTM 250 FPR 16 0 2 1 0 139 7th –
2009 250cc Honda RS250RW 16 4 7 2 4 261 1st 1
2010 MotoGP Honda RC212V 12 0 0 0 0 53 15th –
2011 MotoGP Honda RC212V 17 0 0 0 0 98 10th –
Total 133 9 27 8 11 1263 1

[edit] By class

Class Seas 1st GP 1st Pod 1st Win Race Win Pod Pole FLap Pts WCh
250cc 2000–2009 2000 Pacific 2003 Japan 2005 Japan 104 9 27 8 11 1112 1
MotoGP 2010–2011 2010 Qatar 29 0 0 0 0 151 0
Total 2000–2011 2000 Pacific 2003 Japan 2005 Japan 133 9 27 8 11 1263 1

[edit] Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pos Pts
2000 250cc Honda RSA MAL JPN SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR VAL BRA PAC
8		 AUS 28th 8
2001 250cc Honda JPN
13		 RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR VAL PAC
21		 AUS MAL BRA 28th 3
2002 250cc Honda JPN
12		 RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC
11		 MAL AUS VAL 27th 9
2003 250cc Honda JPN
2		 RSA SPA FRA ITA CAT NED GBR GER CZE POR BRA PAC
5		 MAL AUS VAL 15th 31
2004 250cc Honda RSA
11		 SPA
Ret		 FRA
4		 ITA
9		 CAT
6		 NED
10		 BRA
6		 GER
4		 GBR
9		 CZE
7		 POR
9		 JPN
3		 QAT
3		 MAL
Ret		 AUS
7		 VAL
DSQ		 6th 128
2005 250cc Honda SPA
Ret		 POR
6		 CHN
3		 FRA
6		 ITA
7		 CAT
4		 NED
4		 GBR
Ret		 GER
3		 CZE
5		 JPN
1		 MAL
5		 QAT
6		 AUS
6		 TUR
3		 VAL
6		 4th 180
2006 250cc KTM SPA
6		 QAT
5		 TUR
1		 CHN
3		 FRA
4		 ITA
Ret		 CAT
6		 NED
9		 GBR
3		 GER
8		 CZE
3		 MAL
Ret		 AUS
3		 JPN
1		 POR
2		 VAL
Ret		 4th 193
2007 250cc KTM QAT
Ret		 SPA
6		 TUR
Ret		 CHN
9		 FRA
Ret		 ITA
21		 CAT
7		 GBR
3		 NED
5		 GER
1		 CZE
6		 RSM
2		 POR
Ret		 JPN
8		 AUS
4		 MAL
1		 VAL
10		 6th 160
2008 250cc KTM QAT
16		 SPA
4		 POR
5		 CHN
2		 FRA
7		 ITA
8		 CAT
7		 GBR
6		 NED
6		 GER
8		 CZE
13		 RSM
Ret		 IND
C		 JPN
9		 AUS
Ret		 MAL
2		 VAL
5		 7th 139
2009 250cc Honda QAT
4		 JPN
2		 SPA
1		 FRA
8		 ITA
6		 CAT
2		 NED
1		 GER
4		 GBR
1		 CZE
4		 IND
2		 RSM
4		 POR
4		 AUS
7		 MAL
1		 VAL
7		 1st 261
2010 MotoGP Honda QAT
10		 SPA
14		 FRA
11		 ITA
11		 GBR
DNS		 NED CAT GER USA CZE IND
12		 RSM
12		 ARA
13		 JPN
10		 MAL
7		 AUS
13		 POR
12		 VAL
14		 15th 53
2011 MotoGP Honda QAT
10		 SPA
4		 POR
7		 FRA
8		 CAT
Ret		 GBR
9		 NED
8		 ITA
11		 GER
15		 USA
10		 CZE
9		 IND
9		 RSM
11		 ARA
11		 JPN
9		 AUS
Ret		 MAL
C		 VAL
12		 10th 98

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Aoyama 'electronics-off' strategy explained". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2010-01-04. http://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/155668/1/aoyama_electronics-off_strategy_explained.html. Retrieved 2010-10-20. 
  2. ^ "Aoyama recovering, but no word on return". crash.net (Crash Media Group). 2010-08-02. http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/162174/1/aoyama_recovering_but_no_word_on_return.html. Retrieved 2010-08-02. 

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Marco Simoncelli		 250 cc Motorcycle World Champion
2009		 Succeeded by
Toni Elías (Moto2)
   
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hiroshi_Aoyama&oldid=478887777"
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