Walking along “Daijiro Kato Street” at Misano Circuit: MotoGP San Marino GP

I covered the 16th round of the MotoGP season, the San Marino Grand Prix, on-site. There is one place at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, where the race is being held, that I would like to introduce. That place is Viale Daijiro Kato (Daijiro Kato Street), which leads to the entrance to the circuit.

A street named after Japanese rider Daijiro Kato

The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli, where the MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix is ​​held, is located in Italy. To explain in more detail, “San Marino” is a republic within Italy, but the Misano Circuit is close to San Marino, so even though the circuit itself is in Italy, the name of the Grand Prix is ​​”San Marino.”

Incidentally, the Italian Grand Prix is ​​held separately from this one. It is held at the Mugello Circuit in the Tuscany region. In the 2025 season, it was held in late June. This means that two MotoGP races are held in Italy each year.

The Misano Circuit is located about 400km south of Milan, a major city in northern Italy. The nearby city of Rimini faces the Adriatic Sea and is a so-called beach resort. As you’d expect from a resort, there’s no shortage of hotels, but the roads are very narrow because the hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops are lined up tightly along the waterfront. The buildings, narrow roads, and the atmosphere filled with “out-of-towners” might remind you of a hot spring town bustling with tourists in Japan.

Walking around the hotel at night, you’ll see parents and children and elderly couples walking together, likely on vacation. Even deep into the night, the city is brightly lit by bright lights. It’s still warm at night in Rimini in early September. But it’s not hot enough to be called summer. The breeze coming in from the sea definitely has an autumnal air. That’s the kind of time of year it is in Rimini in September.

The Misano Circuit is located less than 10km by car from the city of Rimini.

A distinctive feature of the Misano Circuit is the proximity of many residential areas. There are residential areas right in front of the circuit entrance, and during race week, the residential areas are used as parking lots and food stands are set up on the streets in front of the circuit.

Another unique feature is that the street in front of the circuit entrance is named “Viale Daijiro Kato (Daijiro Kato Street).” This road leading to the entrance was opened in 2004. You can check this road and its name on maps online.

Italian addresses include the street name, so the address of Misano Circuit is “Via Daijiro Kato, 10 – 47843 Misano Adriatico (RN)” (from the Misano Circuit website).

The late Daijiro Kato, the 2001 250cc class champion who died in an accident at the MotoGP Japan GP in 2003, his second year in the premier class, apparently lived in the vicinity. The names of Japanese riders can be seen on the streets of the Misano circuit in Italy, far across the ocean.

The circuit’s name, “Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli,” is named after the Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, who died in an accident at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2011. A monument to Simoncelli stands in the center of a roundabout near the circuit.

As an aside, not only at Misano Circuit, but at many European circuits, there are various ways of honoring the achievements of riders (or drivers). These include not only deceased riders, but also living riders who are considered legends. It is not uncommon for corners to be named after riders, or for stone tablets or monuments to be erected on the inside or outside of the course, or somewhere on the circuit. This kind of respect for riders and “tangible” praise for what they have achieved is truly wonderful.

The scenery of the circuit hasn’t changed much, but since the retirement of legendary rider Valentino Rossi, the “color” that paints the circuit has changed. Previously, Rossi’s iconic yellow was dazzling, but now the circuit is painted in Ducati red. Of course, yellow is still there, but its proportion has decreased compared to a few years ago.

Some things never change on a circuit. Whenever I cover the San Marino Grand Prix, I always make a point of visiting Viale Daijiro Kato (Daijiro Kato Street). However, after the race, I see the red of the fans filling up the area below the podium, and I realize that some things do change.