Alex Barros

Alexandre Barros (born October 18, 1970) is a former Brazilian motorcycle road racer. After a long career in MotoGP, in 2006 he moved to the Superbike World Championship. He returned to MotoGP for 2007, but retired by the end of the season.[1]

Alex Barros
Barros aboard the Honda RC211V in Jerez 2004
Nationality	Brazilian
Born	October 18, 1970 São Paulo, Brazil
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2002–2005, 2007 Manufacturers Honda, Yamaha, Ducati Championships 0 2007 championship position 10th (115 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 82 3 14 2 5 732 500cc World Championship Active years 1990–2001 Manufacturers Cagiva, Suzuki, Honda Championships 0 2001 championship position 4th (182 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 163 4 18 3 8 1,347 250cc World Championship Active years 1988–1989 Manufacturers Yamaha Championships 0 1989 championship position 18th (30 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 14 0 0 0 0 30 50cc World Championship Active years 1986–1987 Manufacturers Rieju, Autisa, Casal, Arbizu Championships 0 1987 championship position 17th (8 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 17 0 0 0 0 14 Superbike World Championship Active years 2006 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2006 championship position 6th (246 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 24 1 6 0 2 246

Career

Early career

Barros started racing motorcycles at the age of 8, when he won on his debut in the Brazilian minibike championship. In the next two years, he was twice Brazilian moped champion. In 1981, he was the Brazilian 50cc Champion, and in 1985 he won the title of Brazilian's 250cc category. The year of 1986 saw his international début in the 80cc category—he lied about his age so he could race at the Spanish Grand Prix at the age of 15. He finished the championship in sixteenth place, scoring 6 points. In 1987, he also raced the 80cc championship, finishing seventeenth, scoring 8 points.

250cc World Championship

In 1988, Barros made his first race on the World Championship 250cc category, scoring no points. That same year, he was 3rd in the Latin American circuit of that same class. The next year, he finished 18th in the World Championship, scoring 30 points.

500cc & MotoGP World Championship

Alex Barros at Motegi in 2004

In 1990, Alex Barros was the youngest rider in history to join the top motorcycling category, the 500cc, at the age of 20. In his first year, he was 12th overall, with 57 points. Notable results included 8th in the United States and Germany, and 5th in the Belgium Grand Prix. Two years later, his first podium: a third place in the Netherlands.

The year of 1993 saw his breakthrough as he joined the Suzuki team. After qualifying third in the US Grand Prix, Barros had his first victory in Spain, finishing that year's world championship in sixth place. His teammate Kevin Schwantz was that year's champion. The following year, Barros scored in all but one the races. 1996 saw his best performance yet, finishing the championship at fourth, a feat he repeated in 2000, 2001 and 2002. His win at Mugello in 2001,[2] was the latest by a rider other than Valentino Rossi until 2009. In 2002, the first of MotoGP (with engine displacement capacity increased to up to 990cc) he scored 204 points and won races in Pacific and Valencia,[3] eleven points behind second place. 2003 was a difficult one for Barros due to injuries, but in 2004, he once again finished the championship in fourth, in a season dominated by Valentino Rossi, Sete Gibernau and Max Biaggi. In 2005, Barros returned to the top of the podium in Portugal,[4] however he did not mount a lasting championship challenge, and was not offered a ride for 2006. He returned to MotoGP in 2007, riding a Ducati GP7 for Pramac d'Antin. In pre-season testing he matched the factory Ducatis, and at midseason he was ahead of the factory rider Loris Capirossi. He came third at Mugello (ahead of Stoner) and fourth at Istanbul Park.

Superbike World Championship

For 2006 he was hired by the Klaffi Honda team in the Superbike World Championship (WSBK), paying around £100,000 of his own money to fund the ride.[5] After a satisfactory debut weekend with two top 10 finishes, he took a pair of podium finishes at Round 2 in Phillip Island, and a second and a fourth in round four at Monza. At Brands Hatch he failed to qualify for Superpole, but bounced back from 18th on the grid to take a pair of top 10 finishes. The wet meeting at Assen was a disappointment for Barros, especially as he is a wet-weather expert.

His season was characterised by poor starts, but despite this he ended the season as the second highest Honda rider in the championship in sixth place, behind former champion James Toseland. At Imola he took his only WSBK win, and followed it with a second place in race 2.

Suzuka 8 Hours

In 1999, Barros and Japanese teammate Tadayuki Okada won the Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race riding a Honda RC45 superbike.[6]

Career statistics

By class

Class	Season	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts
80cc	1986–1987	17	0	0	0	0	14
250cc	1988–1989	14	0	0	0	0	30
500cc	1990–2001	163	4	18	3	8	1,347
MotoGP	2002–2005, 2007	82	3	14	2	6	732
Total	1986-2005, 2007	276	7	32	5	14	2,123

Races by year

[7]

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Points	15	12	10	8	6	5	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1988 to 1992:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	20	17	15	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

Points system from 1993 onwards:

Position	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Points	25	20	16	13	11	10	9	8	7	6	5	4	3	2	1

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

Year	Class	Team	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
1986	80cc	Rieju		ESP Ret	NAT Ret	GER 11	AUT 23	YUG Ret	NED Ret													16th	6
		Autisa								GBR 8	SWE	RSM 8	BWU
1987	80cc	Casal		ESP Ret	GER 11	NAT Ret	AUT 8	YUG 10	NED 22	GBR	CZE Ret											17th	8
		Arbizu										RSM 7	POR Ret
1988	250cc	Venemotos Yamaha	TZ250	JPN	USA	ESP	EXP	NAT	GER	AUT	NED	BEL	YUG	FRA	GBR	SWE	CZE	BRA Ret				NC	O
1989	250cc	Venemotos Yamaha	TZ250	JPN Ret	AUS 10	USA 16	ESP	NAT 15	GER	AUT 19	YUG 15	NED Ret	BEL Ret	FRA Ret	GBR 13	SWE 9	CZE 10	BRA 10				18th	30
1990	500cc	Cagiva	GP500	JPN Ret	USA 8	ESP Ret	NAT Ret	GER 8	AUT 11	YUG Ret	NED 10	BEL 5	FRA Ret	GBR 11	SWE 9	CZE Ret	HUN 9	AUS				12th	57
1991	500cc	Cagiva	GP500	JPN 10	AUS 8	USA 6	ESP	ITA 4	GER	AUT	EUR	NED 7	FRA	GBR	RSM	CZE	VDM	MAL				13th	46
1992	500cc	Marlboro Cagiva	GP500	JPN 11	AUS 12	MAL Ret	ESP 12	ITA 5	EUR 11	GER 7	NED 3	HUN 9	FRA	GBR	BRA 8	RSA Ret						13th	29
1993	500cc	Lucky Strike Suzuki	RGV500	AUS 5	MAL 7	JPN 6	ESP Ret	AUT 4	GER Ret	NED Ret	EUR 5	RSM 7	GBR Ret	CZE 10	ITA 5	USA 2	FIM 1					6th	125
1994	500cc	Lucky Strike Suzuki	RGV500	AUS 8	MAL 7	JPN 5	ESP 4	AUT 7	GER 5	NED 2	ITA 7	FRA 6	GBR Ret	CZE 8	USA 8	ARG 8	EUR 6					8th	134
1995	500cc	Kanemoto Honda	NSR500	AUS 6	MAL 6	JPN Ret	ESP 5	GER 7	ITA 7	NED 5	FRA 5	GBR Ret	CZE 9	BRA 8	ARG 8	EUR 6						7th	104
1996	500cc	Pileri Honda	NSR500	MAL 2	INA 2	JPN Ret	ESP 8	ITA 6	FRA 7	NED 3	GER 8	GBR 7	AUT 5	CZE 9	IMO 8	CAT 8	BRA 5	AUS 4				4th	158
1997	500cc	Gresini Honda	NSR500V	MAL 11	JPN 10	ESP 8	ITA 6	AUT 13	FRA 6	NED 6	IMO 9	GER 6	BRA Ret	GBR 3	CZE 8	CAT Ret	INA Ret	AUS 8				9th	101
1998	500cc	Gresini Honda	NSR500	JPN 7	MAL Ret	ESP 5	ITA 9	FRA Ret	MAD 9	NED 4	GBR 5	GER 4	CZE 3	IMO 4	CAT 7	AUS 4	ARG 3					5th	138
1999	500cc	MoviStar Pons Honda	NSR500	MAL 6	JPN 8	ESP Ret	FRA 10	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 10	GBR 5	GER 8	CZE 7	IMO 2	VAL 10	AUS Ret	RSA 11	BRA 4	ARG 8			9th	110
2000	500cc	Emerson Honda Pons	NSR500	RSA 4	MAL 8	JPN 7	ESP 5	FRA 5	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 1	GBR 14	GER 1	CZE Ret	POR 10	VAL 5	BRA 2	PAC 7	AUS 4			4th	163
2001	500cc	West Honda Pons	NSR500	JPN 6	RSA 9	ESP 6	FRA 8	ITA 1	CAT Ret	NED 4	GBR 3	GER 5	CZE 9	POR Ret	VAL 2	PAC 2	AUS 4	MAL 7	BRA 4			4th	182
2002	MotoGP	West Honda Pons	NSR500	JPN 6	RSA Ret	ESP 5	FRA 8	ITA 5	CAT 5	NED 2	GBR 3	GER Ret	CZE 9	POR 5	BRA 4							4th	204
			RC211V													PAC 1	MAL 3	AUS 2	VAL 1
2003	MotoGP	Gauloises Yamaha Tech3	YZR-M1	JPN 8	RSA 5	ESP 5	FRA 3	ITA Ret	CAT 8	NED 8	GBR DNS	GER Ret	CZE 7	POR 11	BRA 12	PAC 6	MAL 15	AUS Ret	VAL 6			9th	101
2004	MotoGP	Repsol Honda	RC211V	RSA 4	ESP 3	FRA 7	ITA 6	CAT Ret	NED Ret	BRA 5	GER 2	GBR 9	CZE Ret	POR 3	JPN 4	QAT 4	MAL 3	AUS 5	VAL 6			4th	165
2005	MotoGP	Camel Pons Honda	RC211V	ESP 4	POR 1	CHN 11	FRA Ret	ITA 7	CAT 4	NED 7	USA Ret	GBR 3	GER 5	CZE 4	JPN Ret	MAL 8	QAT 9	AUS Ret	TUR 9	VAL 5		8th	147
2007	MotoGP	Pramac d'Antin Ducati	GP7	QAT 9	ESP 11	TUR 4	CHN 14	FRA Ret	ITA 3	CAT 8	GBR 7	NED 7	GER Ret	USA 9	CZE 9	RSM Ret	POR Ret	JPN 8	AUS 5	MAL 12	VAL 7	10th	115

By season

Season	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd	WCh
2006	Honda CBR1000RR	Klaffi Honda	24	1	6	0	2	246	6th	–

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		Pos	Pts
		R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2
2006	Honda	QAT 6	QAT 7	AUS 2	AUS 3	SPA 11	SPA 14	ITA 2	ITA 4	EUR 9	EUR 5	SMR 4	SMR 2	CZE Ret	CZE 11	GBR 8	GBR 9	NED Ret	NED 7	GER 5	GER Ret	ITA 1	ITA 2	FRA 7	FRA 10	6th	246

References

1. After 7th place, Barros retires from MotoGP Terra Esportes (in Portuguese language) November 4, 2007, Retrieved May 24, 2018
2. "Aoki finishes first – but it's a Honda Pons 1, 2! ". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. June 3, 2002. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
3. "Barros wins after breathtaking season finale". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. November 3, 2002. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
4. "Barros wins first ever 'flag-to-flag', Sete falls". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. April 17, 2005. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
5. Alex Barros career World Superbike statistics at worldsbk.com Archived April 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
6. 1999 Suzuka 8 Hours results at www.motoracing-japan.com
7. Alex Barros career statistics at MotoGP.com

External links

• Alex Barros profile on Motorcycle Racing Online
• Alex Barros bio at highrevs.net