Héctor Barberá

Héctor Barberá Vall (born 2 November 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 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 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 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 in the 250cc class for . After two years with the team he moved to Team Toth in .
Barberá survived a huge crash during the Italian round of the championship on June 1, . Running second behind Marco Simoncelli 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. Barberá won the 2009 Valencia Grand Prix, the final two-stroke, 250cc race in Grand Prix history, as the class was to be discontinued in favor of the four-stroke Moto2 class in . On 20 August 2009 it was announced Barberá would move to MotoGP in , riding for the Aspar Team aboard Ducati 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.
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
Héctor Barberá Profile at Eurosport Yahoo!
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