1991 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1991 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 22–24 March 1991 at the Suzuka Circuit.

  1991 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 15 races in the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	24 March 1991
Official name	Kibun Japanese Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Suzuka Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.859 km (3.641 mi)
500cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Time 2:11.948 Fastest lap Rider John Kocinski Yamaha Time 2:11.149 Podium First Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Second Michael Doohan Honda Third Wayne Rainey Yamaha
250cc
Pole position Rider Wilco Zeelenberg Honda Time 2:16.011 Fastest lap Rider Luca Cadalora Honda Time 2:15.075 Podium First Luca Cadalora Honda Second Carlos Cardús Honda Third Wilco Zeelenberg Honda
125cc
Pole position Rider Noboru Ueda Honda Time 2:24.623 Fastest lap Rider Noboru Ueda Honda Time 2:22.264 Podium First Noboru Ueda Honda Second Fausto Gresini Honda Third Loris Capirossi Honda

Noboru Ueda, who won the 125cc race on his Grand Prix motorcycle racing debut, would become the last rider to win on his debut until Can Öncü in 2018.

Mick Doohan (3) is followed by Kevin Schwantz (34), Wayne Rainey (1) and John Kocinski (19) in the 500 cc race.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Kevin Schwantz	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	22	48:35.747	1	20
2	Michael Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	22	+0.204	2	17
3	Wayne Rainey	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	22	+0.353	5	15
4	John Kocinski	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	22	+0.556	3	13
5	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	22	+35.311	11	11
6	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	22	+44.915	6	10
7	Juan Garriga	Ducados Yamaha	Yamaha	22	+55.830	4	9
8	Sito Pons	Campsa Honda Team	Honda	22	+1:08.316	13	8
9	Kenichiro Iwahashi	Ajinomoto Honda	Honda	22	+1:08.373	10	7
10	Alex Barros	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	22	+1:15.302	8	6
11	Doug Chandler	Roberts B Team	Yamaha	22	+1:15.595		5
12	Adrien Morillas	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	22	+1:18.928		4
13	Kevin Magee	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	22	+1:20.899		3
14	Didier de Radiguès	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	22	+1:22.472		2
15	Peter Goddard	Itariya-Hayashi Racing	Yamaha	22	+1:22.696	12	1
16	Shinichi Itoh	Pentax Honda (HRC)	Honda	22	+1:38.831	9
17	Toshihiko Honma	YMO (Yamaha Racing Team Roadrace)	Yamaha	22	+1:41.697
18	Kunio Machii	Nescafe Yamaha	Yamaha	22	+1:41.905
19	Satoshi Tsujimoto	Suzuki Racing Team	Suzuki	22	+1:54.952
20	Hikaru Miyagi	Ajinomoto Honda (HRC)	Honda	22	+1:55.213
21	Tatsuro Arata	Ito-en Racing	Yamaha	21	+1 lap
22	Cees Doorakkers	HEK-Baumachines	Honda	21	+1 lap
Ret	Eddie Laycock	Millar Racing	Yamaha	17	Retired
Ret	Jean-Philippe Ruggia	Sonauto Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	9	Retired	7
Ret	Keiji Ohishi	Camel Yamaha (Playmate Racing Team)	Yamaha	9	Retired
Ret	Norihiko Fujiwara	Kirin Mets Racing Team	Yamaha	7	Retired	15
Ret	Osamu Hiwatashi	Suzuki Racing Team	Suzuki	1	Retired
Ret	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Racing Team Roadrace	Yamaha	1	Retired	14
DNQ	Nicholas Schmassman	Schmassman Technotron	Honda	0	Did not qualify
[4][5][6]

250 cc classification

Martin Wimmer in the 250 cc race.

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Luca Cadalora	Honda	20	45:23.048	8	20
2	Carlos Cardús	Honda	20	+0.255	2	17
3	Wilco Zeelenberg	Honda	20	+17.876	1	15
4	Masumitsu Taguchi	Honda	20	+21.180	9	13
5	Nobuatsu Aoki	Honda	20	+21.560	11	11
6	Tetsuya Harada	Yamaha	20	+21.570	3	10
7	Helmut Bradl	Honda	20	+22.060	6	9
8	Masahiro Shimizu	Honda	20	+23.103		8
9	Loris Reggiani	Aprilia	20	+31.920	15	7
10	Tsutomu Udagawa	Honda	20	+37.366	4	6
11	Katsuyoshi Kozono	Honda	20	+37.953	7	5
12	Kyoji Namba	Yamaha	20	+40.569	12	4
13	Jochen Schmid	Honda	20	+56.684		3
14	Martin Wimmer	Suzuki	20	+56.734	10	2
15	Toshiyuki Arakaki	Honda	20	+57.140		1
16	Osamu Miyazaki	Yamaha	20	+58.962
17	Pierfrancesco Chili	Aprilia	20	+1:00.083	13
18	Jean-Pierre Jeandat	Honda	20	+1:03.334
19	Andreas Preining	Aprilia	20	+1:08.539
20	Stefan Prein	Honda	20	+1:10.775
21	Alberto Puig	Yamaha	20	+1:31.053
22	Takehiko Kurokawa	Honda	20	+1:34.951
23	Leon van der Heyden	Honda	20	+1:35.323
24	Yoshomasa Kato	Yamaha	20	+1:38.026
25	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	20	+1:41.074
26	Paolo Casoli	Yamaha	20	+1:48.765
27	Urs Jucker	Yamaha	20	+2:07.587
28	Peter Linden	Honda	20	+2:10.769
29	Kevin Mitchell	Yamaha	20	+2:13.523
30	Frédéric Protat	Aprilia	20	+2:13.687
31	Jim Filice	Yamaha	19	+1 lap
32	Bernard Hänggeli	Aprilia	19	+1 lap
Ret	Hiroyuki Yamagishi	Honda	18	Retired
Ret	Jaime Mariano	Aprilia	16	Retired
Ret	Àlex Crivillé	Honda	13	Retired	14
Ret	Corrado Catalano	Honda	6	Retired
Ret	Tadayuki Okada	Honda	5	Retired	5
Ret	Doriano Romboni	Honda	1	Retired
[6]

125 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Noboru Ueda	Honda	16	38:26.905	1	20
2	Fausto Gresini	Honda	16	+2.553	3	17
3	Loris Capirossi	Honda	16	+8.676	2	15
4	Masato Shima	Honda	16	+15.917	10	13
5	Jorge Martínez	JJ Cobas	16	+33.737		11
6	Heinz Lüthi	Honda	16	+37.389	11	10
7	Ralf Waldmann	Honda	16	+37.546		9
8	Akira Saito	Honda	16	+38.930	12	8
9	Soichiro Sato	Honda	16	+39.174	15	7
10	Adolf Stadler	JJ Cobas	16	+39.327	5	6
11	Gabriele Debbia	Aprilia	16	+39.380	13	5
12	Nobuyuki Wakai	Honda	16	+39.425	4	4
13	Yosuke Yamakawa	Honda	16	+45.178	8	3
14	Gimmi Bosio	Honda	16	+47.160		2
15	Kinya Wada	Honda	16	+47.506		1
16	Hans Spaan	Honda	16	+47.883	7
17	Masayuki Hirose	Honda	16	+48.032
18	Koji Takada	Honda	16	+54.478
19	Hisashi Unemoto	Honda	16	+54.555
20	Arie Molenaar	Honda	16	+1:03.982
21	Dirk Raudies	Honda	16	+1:05.364
22	Steve Patrickson	Honda	16	+1:06.647
23	Hideaki Ueno	Honda	16	+1:06.674
24	Julián Miralles	JJ Cobas	16	+1:06.892
25	Alessandro Gramigni	Aprilia	16	+1:26.032
26	Johnny Wickström	Honda	16	+1:30.576
27	Robin Appleyard	Honda	16	+1:30.874
28	Maurizio Vitali	Gazzaniga	16	+1:30.939
29	Thierry Feuz	Honda	16	+1:32.191
30	Oliver Petrucciani	Aprilia	16	+1:56.424
31	Peter Galvin	Honda	16	+1:56.544
32	Hubert Abold	Honda	16	+2:24.346
33	Manuel Herreros	JJ Cobas	15	+1 lap
Ret	Ezio Gianola	Derbi	13	Retired	14
Ret	Masafumi Ono	Honda	13	Retired	9
Ret	Herri Torrontegui	JJ Cobas	9	Retired
Ret	Bruno Casanova	Honda	6	Retired	6
Ret	Alfred Waibel	Honda	6	Retired
Ret	Kazuto Sakata	Honda	5	Retired
Ret	Emilio Cuppini	Gazzaniga	2	Retired
[6]