Aleix Espargaró Villà (born 30 July 1989) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was th
Spanish 2004 FIM CEV 125cc International Champion
and currently competes in the

MotoGP 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 ...

class for

Aprilia Racing Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

team.

Career

Espargaró was born in

Granollers Granollers () is a city in central Catalonia, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It is the capital and most densely populated city in the comarca of Vallès Oriental. Granollers is now a bustling business centre, having grown from a t ...

, Spain. Espargaró had his breakthrough in the MotoGP season with Forward Yamaha finishing 7th in the championship with the highlight being a 2nd place finish in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

. This earned him a move to Factory Suzuki Team in 2015. In 2017 he switched to Aprilia Racing Team Gresini.

125cc International Championship

In 2004, he won the Spanish FIM CEV International Championship 125 cc class with one win, two podiums at Circuito del Jarama and 88 total points.

250cc World Championship

In 2006, Espargaró moved to the 250cc class of Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship racing mid-season, from the 125cc class. After

Sebastian Porto Sebastian may refer to: People * Sebastian (name), including a list of persons with the name Arts, entertainment, and media Films and television * ''Sebastian'' (1968 film), British spy film * ''Sebastian'' (1995 film), Swedish drama film ...

ended his career, Martin Cardenas replaced Porto, and Espargaró took Cardenas' spot.

MotoGP World Championship

For , Espargaró was offered a deal with the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Campetella Racing team but they withdrew, leaving him without a permanent ride, but had two substitute appearances at Assen and Sachsenring for the Balatonring Team. He also acted as a Moto2 development rider.

Pramac Racing (2009–2010)

On 19 August 2009, it was announced Espargaró would race for

Pramac Racing Pramac Racing is a motorcycle racing team competing in the MotoGP and MotoE World Championships. The team was created in 2002 by Italian company Pramac. In 2005 Pramac Racing joined forces with Spanish d'Antin MotoGP to form "Pramac d'Antin" and ...

in Indianapolis and Misano. He replaced

Mika Kallio Mika Kallio (born 8 November 1982) is a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racer, currently serving as the lead test and development rider for the Red Bull KTM team in MotoGP. He debuted in the 125cc World Championship with the Finnish rookie team Aj ...

, who in turn replaced

Casey Stoner Casey Joel Stoner (born 16 October 1985) is an Australian retired professional motorcycle racer, and a two-time MotoGP World Champion, in and . During his MotoGP career, Stoner raced for the factory teams of Ducati and Honda, winning a titl ...

at the Ducati works team. Aleix Espargaro 2010 Silverstone

On 6 October 2009, it was announced that Espargaró had signed an agreement with Pramac Ducati to race in the 2010 MotoGP Championship. He replaced

Niccolò Canepa Niccolò Canepa (born 14 May 1988 in Genoa) is an Italian professional motorcycle road racer contracted from 2022 to RNF Racing in the MotoE World Cup aboard an Energica Ego Corsa. Canepa won the 2007 European Superstock 1000 Championship on a D ...

in the team. He also replaced the injured Canepa for the last two races of the 2009 season in Sepang and Valencia. In 2010 he remained in the same team with

as his teammate. During the German GP Espargaró was involved in an incident 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 ...

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 ...

where he sustained a fracture of the vertebra and a small cut on the knee. His best result was two eighth places at Italy and Australia. He ended the season in 14th place with 65 points.

Moto2 World Championship

Pons HP40 (2011)

In 2011 he moved to Moto2 with the Pons HP40 team, his teammate was Axel Pons. He got a podium in Catalunya and ended the season in 12th place with 76 points.

Return to MotoGP

Power Electronics Aspar (2012–2013)

Espargaro returned to the MotoGP class, his teammate was Randy De Puniet . His best result was an eighth place in Malaysia and ended the season in 12th place with 74 points, making him the highest-placed CRT rider for the 2012 Season. In 2013 he remained on the same team. He obtained a best result of eighth place achieved at Italy, Catalonia, Netherlands and Germany and finished the season in 11th place with 93 points, once again the highest-placed CRT rider.

NGM Forward Racing (2014)

In 2014 he moved to the Forward Racing team riding a Yamaha Forward with CRT specifications His teammate was

Colin Edwards Colin Edwards II (born February 27, 1974), nicknamed the "Texas Tornado", is an American former professional motorcycle racer who retired half-way through the 2014 season, but continues in the sport as a factory test rider. He is a two-time Wo ...

. He scored his first podium in MotoGP finishing second at the Aragon GP. He ended the season in 7th place with 126 points, making him the best of the riders equipped with CRT bikes for the third time in a row. He recorded his first-ever pole position at the Dutch TT at Assen, coming in his 150th Grand Prix weekend.

Team Suzuki Ecstar (2015–2016)

In 2015, after dominating the ''Open Class'' – previously known as ''CRT'' – he signed for the Suzuki works team to ride their new GSX-RR from 2015. His teammate was

Maverick Viñales Maverick Viñales Ruiz (; born 12 January 1995) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer. Viñales is the 2013 Moto3 World Champion, currently riding in MotoGP for the Aprilia Racing team, after five seasons as a MotoGP factory rider with the ...

. He managed to get the second pole position of his career at the Catalonian GP, making it Suzuki's first pole since 2007. He ended the season in eleventh place with 105 points. In 2016 he remained in the same team, achieving fourth place in Japan as his best result and finishing the season in 11th place with 93 points.

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini (2017–2021)

In 2017 he switched to Aprilia Racing Team Gresini, his teammate was

Sam Lowes Samuel Deane Lowes (born 14 September 1990) is a British motorcycle racer competing in the Moto2 World Championship aboard a Kalex since 2019, and is part of the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team. Lowes' 2022 season ended early, being unable to race ...

. He got two sixth places as his best result at Qatar and Aragon, ending the season in 15th place with 62 points. He was forced to miss the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a fracture of his left arm in the previous Grand Prix. In 2018 his teammate was

Scott Redding Scott Christopher Redding (born 4 January 1993) is a British motorcycle racer. For 2022 he is contracted to ride in Superbike World Championship with BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team after the 2020 and 2021 seasons with Ducati factory WSBK team ridi ...

. His best result was a sixth place in Aragon and ended the season in 17th place with 44 points. He was forced to miss the German Grand Prix due to a injury sustained in warm up. In 2019 his teammate was

Andrea Iannone Andrea Iannone (born 9 August 1989) is an Italian professional motorcycle racer who competed in the MotoGP World Championship from 2013 to 2019. Iannone is a race winner in MotoGP, Moto2 and 125 cc World Championships. After winning 4 races ...

. His best result was a seventh place in Aragon and he finished the season in 14th place with 63 points. In 2020 he remained with

Aprilia Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded immediately after World War II in Noale, Italy, by Alberto Beggio. The company started as a manufacturer of bicycles and moved on to manufacture scooters and small-capacity motorcycles. ...

. His best result was an eighth place in Portugal, and he ended the season in 17th place, with 42 points. For the 2021 season, Espargaró remained with

, and his teammate at the beginning of the season was

Lorenzo Savadori Lorenzo Savadori (born 4 April 1993) is a motorcycle racer from Italy, He was the 2015 FIM Superstock 1000 Cup winner and thItalia 2020 CIV Superbike Champion acting as test rider for Aprilia with occasional wild card race entries. For the 2021 ...

. The Aprilia bike immediately proved to be much more competitive, so much so that Espargaró was able to finish frequently in the top ten. In particular, at

Silverstone Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...

, after starting from the second row, he finished the race in third position, giving Aprilia their first podium in MotoGP. This was Espargaró's career second podium in MotoGP, after Aragon in 2014, a wait of almost 7 years. His teammate from the

race and on, was Yamaha outcast

Maverick Vinales Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bureau ...

for the rest of the season.

Aprilia Racing (2022–present)

In the third round of the 2022 campaign, Espargaró won the Argentinian GP from pole position, his first win from 200 entries in the premier class, and Aprilia's first MotoGP class win. On 26 May 2022, Espargaró signed a contract extension with the team for 2023 and 2024, still teaming up with

Career statistics

FIM CEV International Championship

Races by year

(

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 ...

)

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

Races by year

(

) (Races in bold indicate pole position, races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

Personal life

Espargaró's younger brother Pol is also a Grand Prix motorcycle racer, having competed alongside each other in Moto2 in . He is a fan of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

and its former player

Bojan Bojan (Serbian Cyrillic and Macedonian: Бојан; Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian Cyrillic: Боян, transcribed ''Boyan'') is a Slavic given name, derived from the Slavic noun ''boj'' "battle." The ending ''-an'' is a suffix frequently fou ...

, whom he finally met at the Gran Premi De Catalunya in 2012. He is noted as being a fan of

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and other ...

, and owns restaurants located in

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

.Los 4 restaurantes de Aleix Espargaró que arrasan en Andorra
(The 4 Aleix Espargaró restaurants that are sweeping Andorra). mundodeportivo.com, 7 May 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espargaro, Aleix 1989 births Living people Spanish motorcycle racers Motorcycle racers from Catalonia 125cc World Championship riders 250cc World Championship riders Suzuki MotoGP riders Moto2 World Championship riders Pramac Racing MotoGP riders Gresini Racing MotoGP riders Aspar Racing Team MotoGP riders People from Granollers Sportspeople from the Province of Barcelona MotoGP World Championship riders Aprilia Racing MotoGP riders