The MotoGP class opened with the historic Qatar Grand Prix, the first night race held in the World Championship history.
In Spain Pedrosa won his first race of the year, ahead of Rossi and Lorenzo, while Stoner struggled with technical problems on his bike and finished 11th after twice going out on the gravel.
In China Rossi took his first win of the season and the first of three consecutive first places, after a weekend dominated by rain and cold temperatures; he then won in France and in front of his home crowd in Italy.
Bautista got into shape well into the season, after a series of bad races and retirements due to problems with his bike and rider errors.
After that, however, he also began a streak of podiums which lasted from Catalunya to Malaysia, but Simoncelli was too far ahead of him on the standings, and he won his first World Championship with one race to go.
Reigning champion Gábor Talmácsi stayed in the class, unlike other top names from last year who moved into 250cc category.
However, Mike di Meglio won also multiple races, and having escaped without retirement until Misano, built up strong lead.
[3] The schedule was later revised, with Japan held before Australia, because of the original Australian date had a conflict with the AFL Grand Final.
[4] The following changes are made to the regulation for the 2008 season:[8][9][10] It is also forbidden to lodge a protest against a statement of fact of the Race Direction based on a photo finish.