Marco Melandri was racing in the World Championship by the time he was 15, coming close to the 1998 and 1999 125cc titles his first two seasons. He moved to 250cc in 2000 and clinched the Championship title in 2002. The Italian stepped up to MotoGP for 2003, but a broken leg at the opening race hindered his rookie year. In 2004 he showed flashes of brilliance with Yamaha, then moved to Honda Gresini for three seasons, finishing 2nd in the Championship in 2005. Melandri moved to the Ducati factory team in 2008, where what appeared would be a dream combination proved to a poor pairing, and a two year contract was cut short by mutual consent and Melandri moved to Kawasaki for 2009. His final season in 2010 was with Honda Gresini, where he finished the year 10th. After a spell in Superbikes Melandri was recruited to return to MotoGP in 2015 with the new Factory Aprilia Gresini team.