The first City of Imola Grand Prix was held in 1996, its official name being in Italian (Città di Imola). It was the first time since the 1983 San Marino Grand Prix that a motorcycle grand prix race was held at Imola. The amount of spectators who visited the inaugural Grand Prix that year was lower than expected, averaging at only 30.000 people. This was low compared to the events held in the past on the same circuit. The race was nonetheless exciting when heavy rain suddenly hit the circuit at lap 18 of 25. This caused the red flag to be brought out and the race to be suspended. The results from lap 16 were counted and full points were rewarded because more than 75% of the race was ridden. The win went to the Australian Mick Doohan.[1] The event in 1997 was visited even worse: only around 28.000 came to see all sessions combined.[2] In 2000, the City of Imola Grand Prix was taken off the calendar - presumably because of declining spectator attendance.[3]
Mick Doohan
Valentino Rossi
Honda
Àlex Crivillé
Tomomi Manako
Ralf Waldmann
