Sporting Biography

1998: 11th All Japan Championship 125cc (Honda)
1999: 2nd All Japan Championship 250cc (Honda)
2000: 8th All Japan Championship 250cc (Honda)
2001: 2nd All Japan Championship 250cc (Honda)
2002: All Japan Champion 250cc (Honda)
2003: 15th 250cc World Championship after two GPs as a wildcard (Honda)
2004: 6th 250cc World Championship (Honda)

Career in detail

1st GP:	2000 Pacific GP (250cc)
1st Pole:	2003 Japanese GP (250cc)
1st Podium:	2003 Japanese GP (250cc)
1st Victory:	-
Full seasons:	1 (2004)
GP appearances:	23 (250cc/ 7 as a wildcard)
Victories:	-
Second place:	1 (250cc)
Third place:	2 (250cc)
Total podiums:	3 (250cc)
Poles:	1 (250cc)
Fastest laps:	1 (250cc)

World Championship statistics

Season	Category	Factory	Classification	Points
2000	250cc (1 GP)	Honda	28th	8 *
2001	250cc (2 GP)	Honda	28th	3 *
2002	250cc (2 GP)	Honda	27th	9 *
2003	250cc (2 GP)	Honda	15th	31 *
2004	250cc	Honda	6th	128

(*) wildcard entries only

Personal Biography

Hiroshi Aoyama will contest his second season in the 250cc World Championship in 2005, after a more than satisfactory debut season in 2004 with the Telefónica MoviStar Honda 250 team.

‘Hiro’, as he likes to be called, left his home and family in Japan to embark on an adventure that would open the doors to the best competition in the world as an official Honda rider. Not only did he adapt swiftly to his new life in Barcelona, he soon built up an effective working relationship with the rest of the team. His happiness translated to the track and, during a season in which he had to learn each circuit step by step, he took three podium positions and finished an impressive sixth in the final championship standings.

Aoyama, who hails from Chiba and is the eldest of three brothers, visited a circuit for the first time at the age of five with his father Nobol, a motorcycle fanatic. He son swapped his toys for a ‘pocket-bike’ and took up motorcycling as his main hobby, taking part in several Japanese youth series’ and winning the national mini-bike title twice, at the age of 15 and 16. Hiro rode a Grand Prix motorcycle for the first time at the age of, 17, trying both a 125 and a 250. The following season, in 1999, he joined HRC and contested the ‘All Japan Championship’ in the 125cc category before stepping up to the quarter-litre class. In 2003 he became 250cc Japanese Champion and gained the backing of Honda to try his luck outside of Japan in Grand Prix.

In 2003 he made his name in the World Championship as a wildcard, taking a surprise second place at Suzuka and fifth at Motegi. Hiro had actually made seven wildcard appearances before stepping up for his first full season as team-mate to Dani Pedrosa last year, instantly striking up a great friendship with the Spaniard. His capacity for learning and added experience make him one of the favourites for success this season.