At 51, Loris Capirossi remains a central figure in the MotoGP championship. A member of the race direction and responsible for rider safety, the Italian has never left the paddock, where he remains the youngest ever World Champion.
In 1990, you took part in your first world championship season in the 125 class with the Honda Elf Pileri team...
Yes, and it was a dream for me. I was just 17 years old... It was just incredible to be up there with all those great riders I'd admired and followed since I was a child.
And your results were just as incredible, as you clinched the world championship title at the end of the season. Did you imagine that when you arrived in Japan for your first Grand Prix?
No... I'll never forget what Mario Galeotti, my chief mechanic, said to me before leaving for Suzuka... " Listen Loris, you mustn't be disappointed if you don't qualify. There will be a lot of Japanese riders competing in this race, and you know how fast they are. In any case, for us it will be the first step in your learning curve. I didn't really understand what he was talking about. My ambition was much greater than simply qualifying. I wanted to come away from Suzuka with a good result! In the end I ended up 24th on the grid, but in the race I managed to climb back up to 6th place. And to do that, I overtook my team-mate, Fausto Gresini. At the end of the race, Mario wasn't happy that I'd overtaken him. "Why did you do that? He's the team boss!" OK, Mario, I won't do it again!
And you did it again...
Of course I did! The following race, at Jerez, I finished 7th, and at Misano, two weeks after Spain, I took my first podium. I'd crashed out in practice, but I managed to have a great race even though I didn't have a factory bike. From then on, I just kept on taking podiums and victories. Fausto already had two world championship titles under his belt, and that year he was a little slower. In the end, he helped me a lot throughout the season. His advice were invaluable.
Do you remember your first victory?
Of course, it was in England, at Donington. It's still one of my favourite circuits. In fact, I loved it from the very first race I did there, in 1989, in the European Championship. It took me a while to believe in that first victory. When I crossed the finish line, it was hard to realise that I had become the youngest rider ever to win a Grand Prix.
And at the end of the season, at 17 years and 165 days, you became the youngest world champion in the history of Grand Prix racing. A record that still stands today...
It all happened in Australia, on the Phillip Island circuit, during the last race. I don't think I slept a wink on Saturday night. I was super nervous at the idea of clinching the title. I was ten points behind Hans Spaan at the time. I got off to a great start and behind me there was contact between Stefan Prein, who was also in contention for the title, and Alessandro Gramigni. There was then a group of Italian riders who, let's say, favoured my success. Fausto Gresini was battling it out with Hans Span... And I have to say that he helped me quite a bit, even if in the end he finished behind the Dutchman. By slowing Span down, he allowed Casanova and Romboni to finish between Spaan and myself. That was enough for me to become world champion. In 2021, Pedro Acosta almost took the precocity record from me when he became Moto3 world champion. But in the end I kept it for just one day!
You were 125 world champion again in 1991, then moved up to 250 with the same team. What was your relationship with Elf during this period?
They were always excellent. At that time, we were racing with 2-stroke engines and the quality of the fuel was really very important, especially in the smaller classes, because it meant you could gain several horsepower. Lubricants were also very important in improving the reliability of these engines, which could be fragile. I still use Elf products on the many motorbikes waiting for me in my garage.