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

Grand Prix Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

road racer. He competes in

MotoAmerica MotoAmerica is the organization that promotes the AMA Superbike Series since 2015. Sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM), it features six classes of road racing: S ...

aboard a

BMW S1000RR BMW S1000RR is a race oriented 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 four-cylinder eng ...

Career

Born in

Dos Aguas Dos Aguas ( ca-valencia, Dosaigües) is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Hoya de Buñol in the Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spa ...

Valencia Province Valencia ( ca-valencia, València) is a province of Spain, in the central part of the autonomous Valencian Community. Of the province's over 2.5 million people (2018), one-third live in the capital, Valencia, which is also the capital of the au ...

, 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 Pablo Nieto Aguilar (born 4 June 1980 in Madrid, Community of Madrid) is a Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer currently involved in team management. He is the son of the legendary Spanish motorcycle racer Ángel Nieto, and cousin of ...

. 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 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, still owned b ...

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 system ...

and he signed up for a title challenge with

Seedorf Racing Seedorf Racing was a motorcycle racing team owned by Dutch footballer Clarence Seedorf. It took part in the 125cc World Championship from 2003 until 2007. The team was founded in 2002 by Seedorf himself, as a project that he was undertaking to ...

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 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 ...

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 racer. He competed in the MotoGP World Championship for 10 years from 2002 to 2011. He started in the 125cc class before moving up to ...

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. In the 250cc world championship, Barberá won three races along with five other podium results to finish second to Honda's

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, ...

. 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 Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

, 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 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 ...

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 s ...

aboard

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

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 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 ...

for the 2012 season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

By class

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 ...

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

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(

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

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(

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

References

External links

* *
Team Aspar web site

at Eurosport Yahoo! {{DEFAULTSORT:Barbera, Hector 1986 births Living people Sportspeople 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