Aspar Team (formerly

Ángel Nieto Ángel Nieto Roldán (25 January 1947 – 3 August 2017) was a Spanish professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He was one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers in the history of the sport, winning 13 World Championships and 90 Grand Prix ...

Team) is a

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

team from Spain, competing in the Moto2, Moto3 and MotoE World Championships.

History

The team was created by former

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Jorge Martínez in 1992, when he was still riding a

Honda RS125R The Honda RS125R was a 125 Cubic centimetre, cc Two-stroke engine, two-stroke Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix racing motorcycle manufactured by Honda Racing Corporation for Motorcycle racing, racing purposes only. It debuted in 1980, r ...

. For 1993 Martínez expanded his operations into the 250cc class debuting with Juan Borja. For the next two seasons the Aspar team switched to

Yamaha TZ125 The Yamaha TZ 125 was a racing motorcycle produced by the Yamaha Motor Company from 1980 to 2010. The motorcycle was powered by a two stroke 125 cc engine. The first water cooled two stroke 125cc roadracer from Yamaha was released late in 1979 in ...

bikes leaving the 250cc division. In 1996 Aspar started an 18-year relationship with Aprilia; in those years he fielded riders like

Fonsi Nieto Alfonso González Nieto (born 2 December 1978 in Madrid, Spain), better known as Fonsi Nieto, is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and the nephew of successful Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Ángel Nieto. After success in the 250cc c ...

and

Arnaud Vincent Arnaud Vincent (born 30 November 1974) is a French former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was the 2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Moth ...

before entering the 250cc class again, in 2000 with

Alex Debón Alex Debón Latorre (born 1 March 1976 in La Vall d'Uixó, Valencia, Spain) is a former professional motorcycle road racer, who last competed in the Moto2 World Championship. Career He began racing internationally in 2000 after a handful of wi ...

. Between 2006 and 2011 the Aspar team won four World Championship titles in the 125cc class with

Álvaro Bautista Álvaro Bautista Arce (born 21 November 1984) is a Spanish motorcycle road racer. He won the 2022 Superbike World Championship, with Ducati factory team. After the 2019 World Superbike season with the factory Ducati team, for 2020 and 2021 h ...

Gábor Talmácsi Gábor Talmácsi (born 28 May 1981 in Budapest, Hungary) is a Hungarian former professional motorcycle racer. He was the 2007 125cc World Champion, and he is the first and only Hungarian to win a road racing World Championship. He has a younge ...

Julián Simón Julián Simón Sesmero (born 3 April 1987) is a Spanish motorcycle racer. He is best known for winning the 2009 125cc World Championship. Career 125cc World Championship Born in Villacañas, Toledo, Spain, Simón began his racing career r ...

and

Nicolás Terol Nicolás "Nico" Terol Peidro (born 27 September 1988) is a Spanish professional motorcycle road racer, winner of the 125cc World Championship in . He has previously competed in the Superbike World Championship and the Supersport World Champion ...

. Riders that competed with the team in the 250cc class included

Toni Elías Antonio "Toni" Elías Justícia (born 26 March 1983) is a Spanish professional motorcycle racer and inaugural champion of the Moto2 World Championship. He is the third member of the Elías family to compete in motorcycle racing. He currently ride ...

Alex de Angelis Alex de Angelis (born 26 February 1984) is a Sammarinese retired motorcycle road racer. Career 125cc World Championship Born in Rimini, de Angelis made his debut at world championship level in 1999 in the 125 cc class; his first full season was ...

Sebastián Porto Sebastián Porto (born September 12, 1978 as Sebastián Porco) is an Argentine professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He currently races in the Brazilian Moto 1000 GP Championship aboard a BMW S1000RR. Career Early career Born in Rafa ...

and

Randy de Puniet Randy de Puniet (born 14 February 1981) is a road racer of motorcycles from France. He competed in Grands Prix racing between 1998 and 2014, where he achieved five wins in the 250cc class. He also competed in the Superbike World Championship d ...

. In the season the Aspar team entered the MotoGP class with

Héctor Barberá Héctor Barberá Vall (born November 2, 1986) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competes in MotoAmerica aboard a BMW S1000RR. Career Born in Dos Aguas, Valencia Province, Barberá began his World Championship career at the ...

, who finished in twelfth place aboard a Ducati Desmosedici GP10. Simón finished in second place in the inaugural

Moto2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

campaign, with teammate

Mike Di Meglio Mike Di Meglio (born 17 January 1988) is a French Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and three-time world champion claiming the 2008 125cc title,

finishing in twentieth place. Both riders started the season on Honda-powered RSV Motors frames, switching to a Suter chassis after two races.

finished in second place in the 125cc class while his teammate Bradley Smith finished fourth, both riding

Aprilia RSA 125 The Aprilia RS 125 is a race motorcycle manufactured by Aprilia to race in the Grand Prix motorcycle World Championship, built to replace the old Aprilia AF1. It was debuted in , and it had many upgrades since. The bike won ten World Champions ...

motorcycles. Barberá remained with the team for , recording a best result of 6th at the

Spanish Grand Prix The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...

. The team expanded to two bikes in , switching from Ducati to

ART Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

Aleix Espargaró Aleix Espargaró Villà (born 30 July 1989) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was thSpanish 2004 FIM CEV 125cc International Champion and currently competes in the MotoGP class for Aprilia Racing team. Career Espargaró was b ...

and

dominated the recently created CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) class for two straight years. In , Aspar entered two

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

bikes, after hiring former World Champion

Nicky Hayden Nicholas Patrick Hayden (July 30, 1981 May 22, 2017), nicknamed "The Kentucky Kid", was an American professional motorcycle racer who won the MotoGP World Championship in 2006. Hayden began racing motorcycles at a young age. He began his roa ...

to partner

Hiroshi Aoyama is a Japanese retired Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, and current team principal of Honda Team Asia. Aoyama is best known for winning the 2009 250cc World Championship title. He is the older brother of former 250cc and World Superbike rider ...

. The duo scored points regularly, but Espargaró claimed a 3rd straight title in the CRT class with

Forward Racing Forward Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the Moto2 World Championship. History The team started competing in the MotoGP class as the Hayate Racing Team, a scaled down version of the Kawasaki factory team that withdrew from MotoGP ...

. Irishman

Eugene Laverty Eugene Laverty (born 3 June 1986) is a professional motorcycle road racer from Northern Ireland, the brother of Michael and John. For 2022, Laverty is contracted to ride for satellite BMW team Bonovo in World Superbike Championship. Midway ...

joined the team in , the last year for Hayden in the World Championship before switching to the

Superbike World Championship Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a silhouette-class road racing series based on heavily modified production motorcycles, also known as superbike racing. The championship was founded i ...

. Before the season began, the team changed their name from Aspar Racing Team to Ángel Nieto Team, as a tribute by former team principal Jorge Fernandez to his late compatriot

. The team also announced Ángel's son Gelete as the new team principal.

Results

;Notes * Season still in progress.

MotoGP results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) ;Notes * Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{Moto3 World Teams' Champions Motorcycle racing teams Motorcycle racing teams established in 1992 1992 establishments in Spain