Aleix Espargaró
Aleix Espargaró Villà (born 30 July 1989) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competes in the MotoGP class for Aprilia Racing. He was FIM CEV International Championship winner of the Spanish 125GP series in 2004. Career. Espargaró was born in Granollers, 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. This earned him a move to Factory Suzuki Team in 2015. In 2017 he switched to Aprilia Racing Team Gresini. 125cc World Championship. In 2004 he competed  in the Spanish 125cc class championship. 250cc World Championship. In 2006, Espagaró moved to the 250cc class of Grand Prix Motorcycle World Championship racing mid-season, from the 125cc class. After Sebastian Porto ended his career, Martin Cardenas replaced Porto, and Espargaró took Cardenas' spot. MotoGP World Championship. For , Espargaró was offered a deal with the Italian 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 in MotoGP in Indianapolis and Misano. He replaced Mika Kallio, who in turn replaced Casey Stoner at the Ducati works team. 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 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 Mika Kallio as his teammate. During the German GP Espargaró was involved in an incident  with Álvaro Bautista and Randy de Puniet 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 and ended the season in 14th place with 65 points. Moto2 World Championship. Pons HP40 (2011). In 2011 he Moved to Moto2 with the Pons HP 40 team His teammate was Axel Pons . He gets a Podium in Catalonia 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 . He got his First  Podium Finish 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. 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 . 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. He got two sixth places as his best result ( Qatar and Aragon) and ended the season in 15th place with 62 points. This season he was forced to miss the Malaysian Grand Prix due to  a fracture of his left Arm in the previous Grand Prix. In 2018 he remained with the same team, His teammate was Scott Redding. His best result was a sixth place in Aragon and ended the season in 17th place with 44 points. This season he was forced to miss the German Grand Prix due to a injury sustained in warm up. In 2019, His teammate was Andrea Iannone. 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. 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 Aprilia, and his teammate at the beginning of the season was Lorenzo Savadori. 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, after starting from the second row, he finished the race in an incredible 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 Aragon race and on, was Yamaha outcast Maverick Vinales 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. Personal life. His younger brother Pol Espargaró is also a Grand Prix motorcycle racer, and competed alongside Aleix in Moto2 in . Aleix Espargaró is a fan of FC Barcelona and its former player Bojan, whom he finally met at the  Gran Premi De Catalunya in 2012. He is noted as being a fan of Japanese cuisine, and owns Ginza 41, a Japanese restaurant which opened in 2017, located in Andorra la Vella. Career statistics. Grand Prix motorcycle racing. Races by year. Season still in progress.