Aleix Espargaró

Aleix Espargaró
Espargaró wearing NGM colours waving to spectators from an open-top car at the 2014 Motorcycle Grand Prix of the Americas
Nationality	Spanish
Born	30 July 1989 Granollers, Spain
Current team	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR MotoGP
Bike number	41
Motorcycle racing career statistics MotoGP World Championship Active years 2009–2010, 2012–present Manufacturers Ducati (2009–2010) ART (2012–2013) Forward Yamaha (2014) Suzuki (2015–2016) Championships 0 2015 championship position 11th (105 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 95 0 1 2 0 484 Moto2 World Championship Active years 2011 Manufacturers Pons Kalex-Honda Championships 0 2011 championship position 12th (76 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 17 0 1 0 0 76 250cc World Championship Active years 2006–2009 Manufacturers Honda, Aprilia Championships 0 2009 championship position 20th (22 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 44 0 0 0 0 181 125cc World Championship Active years 2004–2006 Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2006 championship position NC (0 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 23 0 0 0 0 36

Aleix Espargaró Villà (born 30 July 1989) is a Spanish motorcycle road racer. He competes in the MotoGP class of the Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship, racing for the Suzuki factory team after their return to championship racing in 2015.

Career

Espargaró was born in Granollers, Spain. In 2006, Espagaró moved to the 250cc class of Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship racing mid-season, from the 125cc class. After Sebastian Porto ended his career, Martin Cardenas replaced Porto, and Aleix took Cardenas' spot.

For 2009, Espagaró was offered a deal with the Italian Campetella Racing team but they withdrew, leaving himwithout a permanent ride, but had two substitute appearances at Assen and Sachsenring for the Balatonring Team. He also acted as a Moto2 development rider.^[1] On 19 August 2009, it was announced Espargaró would race for Pramac Racing in MotoGP in Indianapolis and Misano. He replaced Mika Kallio, who in turn replaced Casey Stoner at the Ducati works team.^[2]

Espargaró at the 2010 British Grand Prix

On 6 October 2009, it was announced that Espargaró had signed an agreement with Pramac Ducati to race in the 2010 MotoGP Championship.^[3] He replaced Niccolò Canepa in the team. He also replaced the injured Canepa for the last two races of the 2009 season in Sepang and Valencia.^[4]

After a year back in Moto2 in 2011, Espargaro returned to the MotoGP class, and was the highest-placed CRT rider for the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

In 2014, he recorded his first-ever pole position at the Dutch TT at Assen, coming in his 150th Grand Prix weekend. At the end of the season, after dominating the Open Class – previously known as CRT – he signed for the Suzuki works team to ride their new GSX-RR from 2015.^[5]

Personal life

His younger brother Pol is also a Grand Prix motorcycle racer, and competed alongside Aleix in Moto2 in 2011.

Aleix is known for adoring FC Barcelona and its former player Bojan, whom he finally met at the Gran Premi De Catalunya in 2012.

Grand Prix career statistics

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Races	Win	Podiums	Pole	Pts	Position
2004	125cc	Honda	Racc Caja Madrid	1	0	0	0	0	NC
2005	125cc	Honda	Seedorf Racing	16	0	0	0	36	16th
2006	125cc	Honda	Avintia Honda	6	0	0	0	0	NC
	250cc	Honda	Wurth Honda BQR	9	0	0	0	20	19th
2007	250cc	Aprilia	Blusens Aprilia	17	0	0	0	47	15th
2008	250cc	Aprilia	Lotus Aprilia	16	0	0	0	92	12th
2009	250cc	Aprilia	Balatonring Team	2	0	0	0	22	17th
	MotoGP	Ducati	Pramac Racing	4	0	0	0	16	18th
2010	MotoGP	Ducati	Pramac Racing	18	0	0	0	65	14th
2011	Moto2	Pons Kalex	Pons HP40	17	0	1	0	76	12th
2012	MotoGP	ART	Power Electronic Aspar	18	0	0	0	74	12th
2013	MotoGP	ART	Power Electronic Aspar	18	0	0	0	93	11th
2014	MotoGP	Forward Yamaha	NGM Mobile Forward	18	0	1	1	126	7th
2015	MotoGP	Suzuki	Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP	18	0	0	1	105	11th
2016	MotoGP	Suzuki	Team Suzuki Ecstar MotoGP	1	0	0	0	5*	11th*
Total				179	0	2	2	777

* Season still in progress.

Races by year

(key)

Year	Class	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Pos	Pts
2004	125cc	Honda	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	BRA	GER	GBR	CZE	POR	JPN	QAT	MAL	AUS	VAL 24			NC	0
2005	125cc	Honda	SPA 14	POR 16	CHN 7	FRA 12	ITA 17	CAT 15	NED Ret	GBR Ret	GER 9	CZE 13	JPN 12	MAL 15	QAT 18	AUS 17	TUR 17	VAL 11			16th	36
2006	125cc	Honda	SPA Ret	QAT 17	TUR 21	CHN 16	FRA DNQ	ITA Ret	CAT Ret												NC	0
	250cc	Honda								NED 15	GBR 12	GER 15	CZE Ret	MAL 9	AUS 15	JPN Ret	POR 13	VAL 13			19th	20
2007	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 11	SPA Ret	TUR 11	CHN 11	FRA 18	ITA 12	CAT 20	GBR Ret	NED 17	GER 11	CZE 13	RSM 12	POR 12	JPN 17	AUS 14	MAL 10	VAL 12		15th	47
2008	250cc	Aprilia	QAT 9	SPA 9	POR 11	CHN 9	FRA 9	ITA 9	CAT Ret	GBR 10	NED 17	GER 13	CZE 10	RSM Ret	IND C	JPN 7	AUS 8	MAL 5	VAL 7		12th	92
2009	250cc	Aprilia	QAT	JPN	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED 4	GER 7	GBR	CZE									17th	22
	MotoGP	Ducati											IND 13	RSM 11	POR	AUS	MAL 11	VAL 13			18th	16
2010	MotoGP	Ducati	QAT Ret	SPA 15	FRA 9	ITA 8	GBR 10	NED 10	CAT Ret	GER Ret	USA Ret	CZE 12	IND 9	RSM 11	ARA 10	JPN 14	MAL Ret	AUS 8	POR Ret	VAL 11	14th	65
2011	Moto2	Pons Kalex	QAT 11	SPA 24	POR Ret	FRA 6	CAT 3	GBR 18	NED 16	ITA 9	GER Ret	CZE 6	IND 10	RSM Ret	ARA 5	JPN 31	AUS 13	MAL 8	VAL 21		12th	76
2012	MotoGP	ART	QAT 15	SPA 12	POR 12	FRA 13	CAT 13	GBR 11	NED Ret	GER 13	ITA 13	USA 9	IND 10	CZE 10	RSM Ret	ARA 10	JPN 12	MAL 8	AUS 10	VAL 11	12th	74
2013	MotoGP	ART	QAT 11	AME 11	SPA 9	FRA 13	ITA 8	CAT 8	NED 8	GER 8	USA Ret	IND 12	CZE 10	GBR 10	RSM 13	ARA 11	MAL 9	AUS 11	JPN Ret	VAL 11	11th	93
2014	MotoGP	Forward Yamaha	QAT 4	AME 9	ARG 15	SPA 7	FRA 9	ITA 9	CAT 6	NED 4	GER 6	IND Ret	CZE 8	GBR 9	RSM Ret	ARA 2	JPN 11	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 7	7th	126
2015	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT 11	AME 8	ARG 7	SPA 7	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT Ret	NED 9	GER 10	IND 14	CZE 9	GBR 9	RSM 10	ARA 6	JPN 11	AUS 9	MAL 7	VAL 8	11th	105
2016	MotoGP	Suzuki	QAT 11	ARG 11	AME 5	SPA 5	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	RSM	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	7th*	32*

* Season still in progress.

References

1. "Espargaró to make MotoGP debut at Indy". MotoGP.com. 19 August 2009.
2. "Espargaro named in Pramac squad". Autosport.com. 19 August 2009.
3. "Espargaro signs with Pramac". Insidebikes. 2009-10-06. Retrieved 2009-10-06.
4. "Espargaró to replace Canepa again at season finale". MotoGP.com. November 3, 2009. Retrieved November 6, 2009.
5. "Suzuki makes great progress at Valencia test". Suzuki MotoGP (Suzuki). 12 November 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.

External links

• Aleix Espargaró – Profile at the official MotoGP website