The1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 49thF.I.M.Road Racing World Championship season.

A fourth world championship in a row forHonda'sMick Doohan with another dominating performance. He brokeGiacomo Agostini's record for victories in one season with 12 wins.^[1] It was also dominating year for Honda with eight of the top ten riders aboard Hondas.^[1] TheYamaha andSuzuki teams were in disarray.^[1]Kenny Roberts left Yamaha to start his own venture with a lightweight, three-cylinderModenas.^[1]Wayne Rainey's team was left with the inconsistentNorifumi Abe andSete Gibernau, a rookie.^[1]Daryl Beattie wasn't able to come back from head injuries and retired at the end of the year whileAnthony Gobert failed a drug test and was dismissed by the Suzuki team.^[1] The Elf team soldiered on with their Swiss-Auto V4 butAprilia decided to pull their V twin from the 500 class at the end of the year.^[1]

Max Biaggi had a harder time defending his title fromTetsuya Harada andRalf Waldmann, not clinching the title until the last race of the year.^[1] A new star emerged from the 125 class withValentino Rossi winning 11 races for a commanding win on an Aprilia.^[1]

As of 2025 it was the last season that only one manufacturer won every race in one season in the premier class to date.

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1997:^[2][3]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	13 April	Marlboro Malaysian Grand Prix	Shah Alam Circuit
2	20 April	Marlboro Grand Prix of Japan	Suzuka Circuit
3	4 May	Gran Premio Lucky Strike de España	Circuito Permanente de Jerez
4	18 May	Gran Premio d'Italia Polini	Mugello Circuit
5	1 June	Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich	A1-Ring
6	8 June	Grand Prix de France	Circuit Paul Ricard
7	28 June ††	Lucky Strike Dutch Grand Prix	TT Circuit Assen
8	6 July	Gran Premio Cirio Città di Imola	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
9	20 July	ADAC Motorrad Grand Prix Deutschland	Nürburgring
10	3 August	Lucky Strike Rio Grand Prix	Autódromo Internacional Nelson Piquet
11	17 August	Sun British Grand Prix	Donington Park
12	31 August	Grand Prix České republiky	Brno Circuit
13	14 September	Gran Premi Marlboro de Catalunya	Circuit de Catalunya
14	28 September	Marlboro Indonesian Grand Prix	Sentul International Circuit
15	5 October	Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix	Phillip Island

†† = Saturday race

• TheMalaysian Grand Prix replaced theJapanese Grand Prix with hosting the opening round Grand Prix.
• TheIndonesian Grand Prix was moved back from 7 April to 28 September.
• TheAustrian Grand Prix was moved forward from 4 August to 1 June.
• TheAustralian Grand Prix moved from theEastern Creek Raceway to thePhillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	13 April	Malaysian motorcycle Grand Prix	Shah Alam	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
2	20 April	Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix	Suzuka	Noboru Ueda	Daijiro Kato	Mick Doohan	Report
3	4 May	Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix	Jerez	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Àlex Crivillé	Report
4	18 May	Italian motorcycle Grand Prix	Mugello	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
5	1 June	Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix	A1-Ring	Noboru Ueda	Olivier Jacque	Mick Doohan	Report
6	8 June	French motorcycle Grand Prix	Paul Ricard	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
7	28 June ††	Dutch TT	Assen	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
8	6 July	City of Imola motorcycle Grand Prix	Imola	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
9	20 July	German motorcycle Grand Prix	Nürburgring	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
10	3 August	Rio de Janeiro motorcycle Grand Prix	Rio de Janeiro	Valentino Rossi	Olivier Jacque	Mick Doohan	Report
11	17 August	British motorcycle Grand Prix	Donington	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Mick Doohan	Report
12	31 August	Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix	Brno	Noboru Ueda	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
13	14 September	Catalan motorcycle Grand Prix	Catalunya	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Mick Doohan	Report
14	28 September	Indonesian motorcycle Grand Prix	Sentul	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Tadayuki Okada	Report
15	5 October	Australian motorcycle Grand Prix	Phillip Island	Noboru Ueda	Ralf Waldmann	Àlex Crivillé	Report

†† = Saturday race

Team Constructor Motorcycle No Rider Rounds Repsol YPF Honda Team Honda Honda NSR500 (NV0X) 1 Mick Doohan All 2 Àlex Crivillé 1–7, 12–15 7 Tadayuki Okada All Honda NSR500V (NVAB) 24 Takuma Aoki All Yamaha Promotor Racing Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 1–3 11 Troy Corser 1–3 Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 4–15 11 Troy Corser 4–7 22 Kirk McCarthy 11–15 ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha GP1 9–10 Honda Gresini Honda Honda NSR500V 4 Alex Barros All /Yamaha TeamRainey Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 5 Norick Abe All 20 Sete Gibernau All Lucky Strike Suzuki Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 (XR87) 6 Daryl Beattie All 23 Anthony Gobert 1, 4–12 26 Yukio Kagayama 15 27 Peter Goddard 2–3 14–15 MoviStar Honda Pons Honda Honda NSR500 8 Carlos Checa All 9 Alberto Puig All /Marlboro Team Roberts ModenasKR Modenas KR3 10 Kenny Roberts Jr. All 12 Jean-Michel Bayle All Tecmas Honda Elf Honda Honda NSR500V 13 Bernard Garcia 6–9 55 Regis Laconi 1–5, 10–15 ELF 500 ROC Elf Elf 500 14 Juan Borja All 16 Jürgen Fuchs All Soverex FP Racing ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha GP1 15 Frédéric Protat 1–3 Honda Honda NSR500V 4–15 Team Pedercini ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha GP1 17 Lucio Pedercini All Rheos ELF F.C.C. T.S.R Honda Honda NSR500 18 Nobuatsu Aoki All IP Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia Aprilia RSW-2 500 19 Doriano Romboni 3–15 39 Alessandro Gramigni 1–2 Team Millar MQP Honda Honda NSR500V 21 Jurgen van den Goorbergh All World Champ Motorsports ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha 22 Kirk McCarthy 1–8 Millet Racing ROC Yamaha ROC Yamaha GP1 25 Laurent Naveau All Marlboro Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 51 Norihiko Fujiwara 2 Team Paton Paton Paton V70 C10/3 53 Francesco Monaco 4, 8 Padgett's Honda Honda NSR500V 98 Jason Vincent 11

Key Regular rider Wildcard rider Replacement rider

^[4][5]

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts 1 Mick Doohan Honda 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Ret 340 2 Tadayuki Okada Honda 10 3 3 Ret 2 3 12 5 2 2 2 Ret 6 1 4 197 3 Nobuatsu Aoki Honda 3 5 5 3 4 Ret 4 2 4 4 4 3 5 4 Ret 179 4 Àlex Crivillé Honda 2 2 1 4 5 4 DNS 4 3 3 1 172 5 Takuma Aoki Honda 5 4 4 Ret Ret 5 Ret 3 3 DNS 10 6 7 7 2 134 6 Luca Cadalora Yamaha 4 11 11 2 3 Ret Ret 6 Ret 3 5 2 4 Ret Ret 129 7 Norifumi Abe Yamaha 8 7 7 7 9 7 10 7 Ret 5 9 5 12 5 3 126 8 Carlos Checa Honda 6 6 Ret Ret 6 2 2 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 6 10 119 9 Alex Barros Honda 11 10 8 6 13 6 6 9 6 Ret 3 8 Ret Ret 8 101 10 Doriano Romboni Aprilia 6 11 10 11 3 Ret 5 7 7 Ret 10 10 11 88 11 Daryl Beattie Suzuki Ret Ret 12 5 11 12 7 13 12 13 6 10 17 12 DNS 63 12 Alberto Puig Honda 7 8 Ret Ret 8 8 5 12 10 14 Ret 13 15 14 15 63 13 Sete Gibernau Yamaha 9 Ret 9 9 Ret 13 19 11 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 6 56 14 Régis Laconi Honda 12 12 10 10 Ret 9 Ret 7 11 16 5 52 15 Anthony Gobert Suzuki DNS 13 7 10 13 10 9 10 Ret 12 44 16 Kenny Roberts Jr. ModenasKR3 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 8 17 Ret Ret 11 9 8 9 14 37 17 Juan Borja ELF 500 14 Ret DNS Ret 12 9 15 Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret 9 Ret Ret 37 18 Jean-Michel Bayle ModenasKR3 Ret 14 13 8 14 Ret Ret 8 Ret 8 DNS Ret Ret Ret 16 31 19 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Honda 15 15 14 Ret Ret 15 Ret Ret 11 11 13 11 14 Ret 12 29 20 Jürgen Fuchs ELF 500 Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret 16 9 14 13 6 15 Ret 16 11 Ret 28 21 Kirk McCarthy ROCYamaha Ret 16 15 14 17 Ret DNS 15 15 12 20 Yamaha 12 Ret 13 15 13 22 Peter Goddard Suzuki 13 Ret 13 9 13 23 Troy Corser Yamaha 13 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 14 11 24 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 7 9 25 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 9 7 26 Bernard Garcia Honda 17 11 Ret 14 7 27 Laurent Naveau ROCYamaha 17 Ret 19 16 15 Ret 16 Ret 16 16 18 14 19 18 19 3 28 Jason Vincent Honda 14 2 29 Lucio Pedercini ROCYamaha 16 Ret 17 15 16 19 18 16 Ret 15 16 Ret 18 17 17 2 Frédéric Protat ROCYamaha Ret 17 Ret 0 Honda 17 18 17 18 Ret 17 17 Ret Ret Ret 18 Francesco Monaco Paton Ret 19 0 Alessandro Gramigni Aprilia Ret DNS 0 Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

^[6]

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts 1 Max Biaggi Honda 1 7 3 1 3 2 DSQ 1 4 5 Ret 1 2 1 2 250 2 Ralf Waldmann Honda 4 5 1 4 2 3 2 4 3 12 1 4 1 7 1 248 3 Tetsuya Harada Aprilia 2 3 2 Ret 18 1 1 5 1 2 2 3 4 4 5 235 4 Olivier Jacque Honda 3 DNS 7 5 1 Ret Ret 2 2 1 4 2 6 3 3 201 5 Tohru Ukawa Honda 6 2 Ret Ret 5 5 4 3 6 3 5 5 3 2 8 173 6 Loris Capirossi Aprilia Ret 11 Ret 3 4 4 3 Ret 5 4 3 Ret 5 14 DNS 116 7 Takeshi Tsujimura T.S.Honda Ret 4 4 Ret 7 Ret 6 Ret 13 8 6 6 7 5 4 109 8 Haruchika Aoki Honda 5 8 5 14 8 6 Ret 8 9 7 8 Ret 8 6 14 102 9 Stefano Perugini Aprilia Ret Ret 6 7 6 Ret 5 Ret Ret 6 7 7 Ret 8 7 85 10 Jeremy McWilliams Honda 9 16 9 9 Ret 11 9 7 8 10 Ret 11 10 10 73 11 Sebastián Porto Aprilia Ret 12 Ret 10 9 7 Ret Ret 16 9 9 10 18 9 9 60 12 Noriyasu Numata Suzuki 14 9 8 6 10 Ret Ret Ret 7 Ret 10 Ret 9 Ret 55 13 Osamu Miyazaki Yamaha 11 Ret 12 15 Ret 10 8 9 18 Ret Ret 14 10 13 11 47 14 Franco Battaini Yamaha 13 21 14 13 14 12 11 11 11 11 15 15 12 12 44 15 Cristiano Migliorati Honda 8 22 Ret Ret 16 DNS 13 13 15 11 Ret 9 16 11 13 35 16 Luis d'Antin Yamaha Ret 17 11 11 11 8 10 Ret 17 Ret Ret 13 Ret 16 32 17 Emilio Alzamora Honda 7 DNS Ret DNS Ret 10 10 14 Ret 12 12 Ret Ret 31 18 Marcellino Lucchi Aprilia 2 Ret 6 30 19 Daijiro Kato Honda 1 25 20 William Costes Honda Ret Ret 19 17 13 9 7 12 20 Ret Ret Ret Ret 17 Ret 23 21 José Luis Cardoso Honda Ret 20 10 Ret Ret Ret Ret 14 Ret 15 13 11 14 Ret Ret 19 22 Jamie Robinson Suzuki Ret 14 16 8 12 Ret 15 Ret Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret 18 23 Oliver Petrucciani Aprilia 10 18 13 16 15 12 16 19 17 Ret Ret Ret 16 17 14 24 Luca Boscoscuro Honda 15 19 15 12 Ret Ret Ret 14 13 Ret Ret 17 15 15 13 25 Giuseppe Fiorillo Aprilia Ret Ret Ret 12 16 Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 12 26 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 6 10 27 Troy Bayliss Suzuki 6 10 28 Naoki Matsudo Yamaha 10 6 29 Eustaquio Gavira Aprilia 12 Ret 17 Ret 19 DNS 15 Ret 21 19 Ret 16 Ret Ret Ret 5 30 Scott Smart Honda 12 4 31 Naoto Ogura Yamaha 13 3 32 Sébastien Gimbert Honda 13 3 33 Idalio Gavira Aprilia Ret DNS Ret 18 Ret 14 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 34 Maurice Bolwerk Honda 14 Ret 2 35 John McGuinnes Aprilia 14 2 36 Choujun Kameya Suzuki 15 1 37 Claudio Vanzetta Aprilia 15 17 1 38 Callum Ramsay Honda 15 1 Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

^[7]

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.

Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts 1 Valentino Rossi Aprilia 1 Ret 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1 6 321 2 Noboru Ueda Honda 3 1 2 4 1 Ret 4 5 Ret 2 3 1 3 4 1 238 3 Tomomi Manako Honda 7 12 5 5 3 2 2 2 Ret 4 8 2 5 5 3 190 4 Kazuto Sakata Aprilia 2 2 7 6 6 Ret 3 3 Ret 5 Ret 9 2 2 2 179 5 Masaki Tokudome Aprilia 5 13 4 7 5 DNS 7 Ret 9 10 2 8 11 6 8 120 6 Jorge Martínez Aprilia 6 5 3 2 Ret DNS 6 6 6 7 Ret Ret 12 3 13 119 7 Garry McCoy Aprilia Ret 7 Ret 3 4 3 Ret 4 Ret 13 4 11 9 9 9 109 8 Roberto Locatelli Honda 17 11 8 14 8 Ret 8 7 Ret 11 5 4 7 10 4 97 9 Mirko Giansanti Aprilia 4 18 12 16 Ret 7 Ret 10 7 6 7 12 4 Ret 10 83 10 Frédéric Petit Honda 9 10 13 9 10 5 9 Ret 4 9 9 15 10 14 Ret 83 11 Gianluigi Scalvini Honda 16 9 21 12 9 8 13 11 12 Ret 11 6 8 7 5 81 12 Youichi Ui Yamaha Ret Ret 22 10 7 4 5 8 Ret 3 Ret 10 18 8 Ret 77 13 Yoshiaki Katoh Yamaha 8 6 10 15 Ret 6 Ret 12 2 16 6 Ret 13 21 14 74 14 Lucio Cecchinello Honda 10 Ret 15 8 Ret Ret Ret Ret 5 8 10 5 6 13 7 73 15 Masao Azuma Honda 12 4 9 11 11 9 10 9 Ret 17 13 Ret Ret 11 12 66 16 Manfred Geissler Honda 18 23 17 17 12 16 31 Aprilia 13 Ret 3 Ret 12 13 DNS Ret 15 17 Juan Enrique Maturana Yamaha Ret 24 19 18 14 11 14 Ret 10 15 15 16 Ret 17 11 22 18 Ivan Goi Aprilia 13 14 11 13 12 16 15 Ret 13 18 17 Ret 21 19 Steve Jenkner Aprilia 21 21 18 22 15 13 17 18 Ret 12 16 7 14 15 16 20 20 Gino Borsoi Yamaha 22 15 23 Ret Ret 12 Ret Ret 8 14 Ret Ret 16 12 Ret 19 21 Jaroslav Huleš Honda 11 Ret 14 Ret Ret 11 13 Ret DNS Ret 14 Ret 20 Ret 17 22 Hideyuki Nakajoh Honda 3 16 23 Peter Öttl Aprilia Ret Ret 6 Ret Ret 15 11 24 Kazuhiro Takao Honda 8 8 25 Dirk Raudies Honda 14 Ret 20 20 Ret 10 Ret 17 Ret 20 Ret 19 17 Ret Ret 8 26 Ángel Nieto Jr. Aprilia 19 22 24 23 16 15 16 14 11 Ret 19 Ret Ret 16 17 8 27 Josep Sardá Honda 15 19 26 19 Ret 14 Ret Ret Ret 19 Ret 18 DNS 19 18 3 28 Alex Hofmann Yamaha 14 2 29 Darren Barton Honda 14 2 30 Benny Jerzenbeck Honda Ret 18 15 Ret 1 31 Álvaro Molina Honda Ret 15 1 Rudi Arianto Yamaha Ret 0 Irvan Octavianus Yamaha Ret 0 Ahmad Jayadi Yamaha Ret 0 Nasrul Arif Honda Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver Second place Bronze Third place Green Points classification Blue Non-points classification Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired, not classified (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts
1	Honda	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	375
2	Yamaha	4	7	7	2	3	7	10	6	7	3	5	2	4	5	3	188
3	Suzuki	Ret	13	12	5	7	10	7	10	9	10	6	10	17	12	7	90
4	Aprilia	Ret	DNS	6	11	10	11	3	Ret	5	7	7	Ret	10	10	11	88
5	ModenasKR3	Ret	14	13	8	14	Ret	8	8	Ret	8	11	9	8	9	14	68
6	ELF 500	14	Ret	16	Ret	12	9	9	14	8	6	8	Ret	9	11	Ret	60
7	ROCYamaha	16	16	15	14	15	19	16	15	15	12	16	14	18	17	17	12
Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts

^[4]

Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts
1	Honda	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	360
2	Aprilia	2	3	2	2	4	1	1	5	1	2	2	3	4	4	5	268
3	T.S.Honda	Ret	4	4	Ret	7	Ret	6	Ret	13	8	6	6	7	5	4	109
4	Yamaha	11	10	10	11	11	8	8	9	11	15	11	11	10	12	11	81
5	Suzuki	14	6	8	6	10	Ret	Ret	15	7	Ret	10	13	9	Ret	6	72
Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts

^[6]

Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts
1	Aprilia	1	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	1	1	2	351
2	Honda	3	1	2	4	1	2	2	2	4	2	3	1	3	4	1	287
3	Yamaha	8	6	10	10	7	4	5	8	2	3	6	10	13	8	11	139
Pos	Manufacturer	MAL	JPN	ESP	ITA	AUT	FRA	NED	IMO	GER	RIO	GBR	CZE	CAT	INA	AUS	Pts

^[7]

• Schertenleib, Jean-Claude; Büla, Maurice (2000).Continental Circus 50. Chronosports.ISBN 978-2-940125-32-6.
• "The Official MotoGP website". Archived fromthe original on 2012-09-20. Retrieved2010-07-06.

• Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons
• 1997 in motorsport

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata