After dealing with the Valentino Rossi season 2002 , rightly considered one of the greatest in the history of our sport, let's take a look at the 2003 edition, where he achieved the impossible: do better.
However, 'Vale's final season at Honda was far from easy. Max Biaggi, also on Honda, seemed more motivated than ever to dethrone the king, while Sete Gibernau also benefited from a very good package, the RC211V. If Suzuki is less scary after the stampede of 2002, a new manufacturer appears: Ducati.
The reds arrive with the firm intention of being fast from the start. For this, they hire two pilots of choice. Loris Capirossi on the one hand, and Troy Bayliss on the other, one of the best Superbike riders at that time.
As tradition dictates, Suzuka hosts the first round of the championship. Immediately, Rossi took control, scoring a clear pole position. Starting from the lead, he won this grand prize with the best lap in the race as a bonus. But difficult to savor.
Honda driver Daijiro Kato has just lost his life after a terrible fall. This day, which remains remembered as one of the darkest in the history of Grands Prix, is terrible. Impossible to think about the ranking and the championship. This tragic loss marks the last appearance of the legendary circuit on the calendar.
After five races, three men broke away. Rossi, who in the meantime, triumphed at Jerez and Mugello, Gibernau, with two victories in South Africa and France, then “Le Romain” Biaggi, who remained very consistent, although without a victory on the clock.
If he does not win in Catalonia (photo), to the delight of his rival Capirossi, he still takes the opportunity to score big points overall. Photo: Box Repsol.
Valentino Rossi is exemplary in terms of consistency. You have to realize: he never got off the podium all season. 16 times in 16 innings. Impossible to fight with so much pure speed, so much consistency from a rider on such a high-performance machine.
In Catalonia, Loris Capirossi created a surprise by winning the race ahead of the championship leader, and in fact, scored the first victory for Ducati Corse in the premier category. Including this success, Loris will have scored six podiums this year, compared to three for the “Baylisstic”.
Rossi worked with Nicky Hayden as a teammate. The latter won the title of rookie of the year, twice reaching the 3rd step of the podium, at Motegi and at Philip Island (photo). Photo: Box Repsol.
Number 46 dominates outrageously, and always wins in the end: it becomes sickening for the opponents. In close quarters battle? He knows how to do it, and was able to win on the line in Brno, against a fiery Sete Gibernau that day. Go alone and win? This is not a problem : at Philip Island, the Italian is quietly in the lead after starting from first place. After an eventful start to the race, he overtook under yellow flags following a fall by Bayliss, and received a ten-second penalty.
The Repsol box informed him of the affair, and Rossi began to string together fast laps, with the aim of winning by more than ten seconds, what he manages to achieve! He won here one of the best races of his career, ahead of a “Capirex” who was himself alone.
The addition hurts at the end of the season. 357 points in 16 rounds, an average of 22,31 points per race, for nine poles, nine victories and twelve fastest laps in the race (!). Before taking up the Yamaha challenge, Valentino Rossi gave us an almost perfect performance. Of course, this season was not the most spectacular to watch, but we must recognize this feat which made it, from now on, enter the circle of the greatest of all time.
