Aspar Team

Ángel Nieto Team

2018 name	MotoGP – Ángel Nieto Team Moto3 – Ángel Nieto KTM Team
Base	Spain
Principal	Ángel Nieto, Jr.
Rider(s)	MotoGP: 17. Karel Abraham 19. Álvaro Bautista Moto3: 16. Andrea Migno 75. Albert Arenas
Motorcycle	MotoGP – Ducati Moto3 – KTM
Riders' Championships	4 125 cc – Álvaro Bautista (2006) 125 cc – Gábor Talmácsi (2007) 125 cc – Julián Simón (2009) 125 cc – Nicolás Terol (2011)

Ángel Nieto Team (formerly Aspar Racing Team) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team from Spain, currently competing in the MotoGP and Moto3 World Championships.

History

The team was created by former world champion Jorge Martínez in 1992, when he was still riding a Honda RS125R. For 1993 Martínez expanded his operations into the 250cc class debuting with Juan Borja. For the next two seasons the Aspar team switched to Yamaha TZ125 bikes leaving the 250cc division. In 1996 Aspar started an 18-year relationship with Aprilia; in those years he fielded riders like Fonsi Nieto and Arnaud Vincent before entering the 250cc class again, in 2000 with Alex Debón. Between 2006 and 2011 the Aspar team won four World Championship titles in the 125cc class with Álvaro Bautista, Gábor Talmácsi, Julián Simón and Nicolás Terol. Riders that competed with the team in the 250cc class included Toni Elías, Alex de Angelis, Sebastián Porto and Randy de Puniet.

In the 2010 season the Aspar team entered the MotoGP class with Héctor Barberá, who finished in twelfth place aboard a Ducati Desmosedici GP10. Simón finished in second place in the inaugural Moto2 campaign, with teammate Mike Di Meglio finishing in twentieth place. Both riders started the season on Honda-powered RSV Motors frames, switching to a Suter chassis after two races. Nicolás Terol finished in second place in the 125cc class while his teammate Bradley Smith finished fourth, both riding Aprilia RSA 125 motorcycles.

Barberá remained with the team for 2011, recording a best result of 6th at the Spanish Grand Prix. The team expanded to two bikes in 2012, switching from Ducati to ART. Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet dominated the recently created CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) class for two straight years. In 2014, Aspar entered two Honda bikes, after hiring former World Champion Nicky Hayden to partner Hiroshi Aoyama. The duo scored points regularly, but Espargaró claimed a 3rd straight title in the CRT class with Forward Racing. Irishman Eugene Laverty joined the team in 2015, the last year for Hayden in the World Championship before switching to the Superbike World Championship.

Before the 2018 season began, the team changed their name from Aspar Racing Team to Ángel Nieto Team, as a tribute by former team principal Jorge Fernandez to his late compatriot Ángel Nieto. The team also announced Ángel's son Gelete as the new team principal.

MotoGP results

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

Year	Team	Motorcycle	Tyres	No.	Riders	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Points	Pos.
2010	Páginas Amarillas Aspar Racing Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP10	B			QAT	ESP	FRA	ITA	GBR	NED	CAT	GER	USA	CZE	IND	SMR	ARA	JPN	MAL	AUS	POR	VAL		90	9th
				40	Héctor Barberá	12	13	8	12	11	12	10	9	Ret	9	10	9	11	13	11	14	10	8
2011	Mapfre Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati Desmosedici GP11	B			QAT	ESP	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	ITA	GER	USA	CZE	IND	SMR	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		82	7th
				8	Héctor Barberá	12	6	Ret	9	11	11	12	7	11	9	10	Ret	9	8	Ret		C	11
				6	Damian Cudlin															Ret	DNS
2012	Power Electronics Aspar	ART GP12	B			QAT	ESP	POR	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA	IND	CZE	SMR	ARA	JPN	MAL	AUS	VAL		136	6th
				14	Randy de Puniet	13	Ret	13	Ret	15	12	8	11	12	11	Ret	8	9	11	Ret	Ret	11	12
				41	Aleix Espargaró	15	12	12	13	13	11	Ret	13	13	9	10	10	Ret	10	12	8	10	11
2013	Power Electronics Aspar	ART GP13	B			QAT	AME	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	USA	IND	CZE	GBR	SMR	ARA	MAL	AUS	JPN	VAL		129	7th
				14	Randy de Puniet	12	14	Ret	Ret	11	Ret	12	12	Ret	Ret	15	16	17	13	12	10	13	Ret
				41	Aleix Espargaró	11	11	9	13	8	8	8	8	Ret	12	10	10	13	11	9	11	Ret	11
2014	Drive M7 Aspar	Honda RCV1000R	B			QAT	AME	ARG	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	IND	CZE	GBR	SMR	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		116	9th
				2	Leon Camier										Ret	15	16	16
				69	Nicky Hayden	8	11	11	11	Ret	DNS	12	17	14					9	14	10	Ret	13
				7	Hiroshi Aoyama	11	12	10	12	14	14	15	16	12	10	13	14	12	8	13	8	11
		Honda RC213V-S																					15
2015	Aspar MotoGP Team	Honda RC213V-S	B			QAT	AME	ARG	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	IND	CZE	GBR	SMR	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		25	12th
				50	Eugene Laverty	18	16	17	18	14	15	12	Ret	17	19	Ret	17	19	14	17	19	19	Ret
				69	Nicky Hayden	17	13	16	17	11	Ret	Ret	16	16	16	17	12	17	15	13	Ret	16	17
2016	Aspar Team MotoGP (Rd. 1 - 8) Pull&Bear Aspar Team (Rd. 9 - 18)	Ducati Desmosedici GP14	M			QAT	ARG	AME	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	AUT	CZE	GBR	SMR	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		97	10th
				50	Eugene Laverty	12	4	12	9	11	13	13	7	11	18	6	12	14	14	Ret	14	12	16
				68	Yonny Hernández	Ret	Ret	14	15	Ret	16	17	Ret	18	17	11	11	16	16	12	13	Ret	Ret
2017	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP15	M			QAT	ARG	AME	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	SMR	ARA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL		107	9th
				17	Karel Abraham	14	10	Ret	15	Ret	16	14	7	17	13	14	13	17	Ret	Ret	14	Ret	14
		Ducati Desmosedici GP16		19	Álvaro Bautista	Ret	4	15	Ret	Ret	5	7	Ret	6	Ret	8	10	12	8	Ret	17	11	Ret
2018	Ángel Nieto Team	Ducati Desmosedici GP16	M			QAT	ARG	AME	ESP	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	CZE	AUT	GBR	SMR	ARA	THA	JPN	AUS	MAL	VAL	61*	8th*
				17	Karel Abraham	15	20	Ret	18	17	Ret	13	Ret	18	18	21
		Ducati Desmosedici GP17		19	Álvaro Bautista	13	16	15	8	Ret	9	9	9	5	9	10

* Season still in progress.

External links

• Official website