Special MotoGP 2012: Aleix Espargaró

Today we continue with the special features on the MotoGP World Championship, and we do so with one of our own, with a return to the queen category that will give a lot to talk about, especially seeing how his ART is evolving. We are talking about Aleix Espargaró, the eldest of the Espargaró brothers, who returns to MotoGP in 2012 with Team Aspar and a new challenge: the CRT machines.

The 41 kicks off this 2012 with this great adventure, in which he will have to draw on all his experience in the world of two wheels. The Catalan started out in the school of the World Championship, the Spanish Speed Championship, becoming champion in 2004 in the 125GP category. He also set a record as the youngest to achieve it, and earned his wild card in the World Championship at the Valencia Grand Prix, so all the steps were in place for the great leap in his career.

After that moment, a young rider with great talent, hunger and enthusiasm was given the great opportunity: he made the jump to the World Championship, making his debut in 2005 and finishing a full season with good feelings, with 36 points and in 16th position. For the following season he was to follow the same plan in the small category, but after several races he got the great opportunity to ride a 250cc, finishing in the midfield that 2006 and feeling very comfortable with his Honda. For the following season, 2007, he made the switch and joined Aprilia, with which he competed in his first full year in 250cc, finishing 15th with 47 points. In 2008 things improved even further: he kept finding his rhythm and the knack of the displacement, and with the same bike he finished 12th with 92 points.

And finally came 2009, when Aleix would fulfil one of his dreams, and in fact that of many riders competing today: reaching the queen category of motorcycle racing, MotoGP, where the great riders of all time have shown their potential. Although the Catalan began his third season in 250cc on a disastrous note, having been left without a bike for the intermediate class and having to act as a substitute for injured riders, he specifically took part in two races as a member of the Balatonring team, one of those tasked with developing a Moto2, impressing everyone with his results.

Without doubt those two races were key, so that 2009, which began so badly, ended up being the year of Aleix Espargaró’s MotoGP debut. The rider Mika Kallio, who competed in the queen category with Pramac Racing, was requested by factory Ducati to replace Casey Stoner, and the Italian team thought of Aleix as their temporary man. From these collaborations emerged what in 2010 would be the full season for the 41 in MotoGP with Pramac Racing and a Ducati. The season ended in 14th position, with his best results being two eighth places at Mugello and Phillip Island.

After that MotoGP experience, he decided to return to the intermediate class with Sito Pons and his project, a season in which he would fulfil another of his dreams: achieving his first podium in the World Motorcycle Championship, and not in just any setting but at the Catalan Grand Prix, at home, in front of his people, his followers and his family. His adaptation to the Pons Kalex was very good, closing 2011 in 12th position with 76 points.

Now the great opportunity comes around again: the Power Electronics Aspar has fully trusted in Espargaró’s great abilities and has handed him the controls of one of its ARTs, so he will be one of the rookies of the MotoGP CRT category for 2012, a year expected to be full of work and more work, since these machines still have a long way to go. But both the Catalan and his teammate Randy De Puniet, together with their respective teams, are building very strong bikes, and for now the best in this category, so we expect surprises from these ARTs, and we are eager to see them in action at the IRTA test at the Jerez Circuit with the rest of the bikes taking part in the queen category’s next season.

Keep fulfilling dreams through hard work, come on Aleix.

Photo | MotoGP Official website