Héctor Barberá Vall (born 2 November 1986) is a Spanish Grand Prix

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racer. He competes in MotoAmerica aboard a

BMW S1000RR BMW S1000RR is a race orientated sport bike initially made by BMW Motorrad to compete in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, that is now in commercial production. It was introduced in Munich in April 2008, and is powered by a Inline-four engi ...

Career

Born in

Dos Aguas Dos Aguas () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Comarques of the Valencian Community, ''comarca'' of Hoya de Buñol in the Valencia (autonomous community), Valencian Community, Spain. References

Municipalities in the Pr ...

, Valencia Province, Barberá began his World Championship career at the age of 15 in the 125cc world championship, under the guidance of Jorge Martínez "Aspar", who teamed Barberá and fellow youngster Ángel Rodríguez up with the experienced Pablo Nieto. In his first season Barberá established himself as the most promising rider of the three and in he broke through, with his first victory at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

making him one of the youngest riders ever to win a Grand Prix. A strong finish to the season saw him take third place in the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

and he signed up for a title challenge with Seedorf Racing in . Several inopportune crashes and mechanical failures derailed his hopes but victory in the final race secured the runner-up spot and a factory ride with Fortuna

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

in the 250cc class for . After two years with the team he moved to Team Toth in . Hector Barbera 07

Barberá survived a huge crash during the Italian round of the championship on June 1, . Running second behind

Marco Simoncelli Marco Simoncelli (; 20 January 198723 October 2011), nicknamed Sic (), was an Italian professional Motorcycle racing, motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing, MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He ...

on the penultimate lap who tried to defend his lead by changing his line on the straight, Barberá slipstreamed onto Simoncelli's back wheel and clipped it with his front brake lever. His bike somersaulted through the air, with Barberá escaping somewhat uninjured. However, a further crash in practice at Motegi left him with two spinal fractures, ending his season. Hector Barbera 2011 Estoril

In the 250cc world championship, Barberá won three races along with five other podium results to finish second to Honda's Hiroshi Aoyama. Barberá won the 2009 Valencia Grand Prix, the final

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...

, 250cc race in Grand Prix history, as the class was to be discontinued in favor of the

four-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

Moto2 class in . On 20 August 2009 it was announced Barberá would move to

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

in , riding for the

Aspar Team Aspar Team (formerly Ángel Nieto Team) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team from Spain, competing in the Moto2, Moto3 and MotoE World Championships. History The team was created by former world champion Jorge Martínez in 1992, when he was ...

aboard

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A () is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. History Barely a month after the official liberation of Italy in 1944, SIATA announced its intention to sell this engine, called ...

customer bikes. Barberá finished the 2010 MotoGP season in twelfth place, and followed on in eleventh place in 2011. On 7 November 2011, it was announced that he was moving to Pramac Racing for the 2012 season. In 2016, Barbera finished a career best of tenth place in the MotoGP standings. That year, he had his only two races for a factory MotoGP team, replacing Andrea Iannone at

Ducati Corse Ducati Corse () is the racing division of Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A., Ducati Motor Holding. Organization The company is split into four departments with 100+ employees working for the Ducati Corse, almost 10% of the Ducati Motor Holding S.p. ...

. Barbera switched to Moto2 after failing to find a MotoGP ride for 2018. He competed at the last Grand Prix of his career that year at Mugello. Barbera later competed in

World Superbikes Superbike World Championship (also known as WorldSBK, SBK, World Superbike, WSB, or WSBK) is a Silhouette racing car, silhouette road racing series based on heavily modified production sports motorcycles. The championship was founded in . The Su ...

, World Supersport, MotoAmerica, and British Superbikes.

Legal issues

Barbera was sentenced to six months in jail for assault and battery in 2013. He was ordered to serve 22 days of community service in 2018 for driving under the influence, which caused him to lose his Pons Racing Moto2 ride. Barbera was accused of stealing a Yamaha Supersport bike owned by his own team, Team Toth, in 2019. In 2023, he was investigated for fraud and forgery. It was also revealed by Andorran news website ''Altaveu'' that he had a search and arrest warrant issued against him since 2019 for another undisclosed affair.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

Races by year

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

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

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

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

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

AMA Superbike Championship

Races by year

British Superbike Championship

By year

References

External links

*
Team Aspar web site

at Eurosport Yahoo! {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbera, Hector 1986 births Living people Motorcycle racers from the Province of Valencia Spanish motorcycle racers 125cc World Championship riders 250cc World Championship riders Ducati Corse MotoGP riders Avintia Racing MotoGP riders Pramac Racing MotoGP riders Aspar Racing Team MotoGP riders Moto2 World Championship riders Supersport World Championship riders MotoGP World Championship riders Superbike World Championship riders British Superbike Championship riders