In 1997 Jorge Martinez “Aspar” contested his final Grand Prix as a racer but his career was a long way from over. In 1992 Jorge created his own team, which immediately began to flourish until it became one of the largest and most successful in the World Championship. Having himself been one of the greatest riders in history, he was now turning his efforts towards giving his best for each and every rider that came through his doors.
At the start a single structure was used to tackle both the World and Spanish Championships but in 2002 a clear definition between the two teams began to form, with only certain members of personnel involved in both outfits.
As the years have gone by small details have been refined and improved, but the one thing that has never changed has been the special attention given by the team to rider development and Jorge’s role as a promoter for the driving school at the Circuito de la Comunidad Valenciana, which he helped to set up.
Since its creation several top riders have passed through Aspar’s garage: Toni Elias, Sebastian Porto, Fonsi Nieto, Pablo Nieto, Gélete Nieto, Randy De Puniet, Arnaud Vincent, Alex Debon, Emilio Alzamora, Jeronimo Vidal and Angel Rodriguez, to name but a few. They have come from different countries but the search is always on for youngsters from his beloved Valencia, with the full support of the Cheste circuit, where the first corner bears his name.
There is no doubt that the 2006 was the the fruition of a job well done for the Master MVA Aspar Team. Jorge Martinez “Aspar” put together a team with the skill and talent to finally fulfil the dreams of the Valencian outfit as they lifted the World Championship title thanks to one of Spain’s brightest racing talents in Alvaro Bautista. For “Aspar” it was the only thing left for him to win as a manager in the class.
The 2006 season also proved to be a turning point for the entire team. The eyes of the world’s media had focused on them at the third round of the season, when Hector Faubel, Alvaro Bautista and Sergio Gadea scored an historic triple podium at Turkey. And as if that wasn’t enough, the trio were at it again at Cataluña, where Bautista took the victory ahead of Faubel and Gadea. That was also the first occasion any rider had scored back-to-back victories in the category since 2002 – Alvaro ending that record-breaking run in stunning style. It had been even longer that a rider had gone on to dominate the 125cc category in the way that Baustista would do, with the title battle in recent years almost invariably going down to the final round. However, the statistics that season were a clear sign of the Master MVA Aspar Team’s potential in the 125cc and 250cc classes.
After thirteen rounds of the season, Alvaro Bautista sealed the 125cc World title. Faubel, Pasini and Gadea would eventually finish the season in third, fourth and fifth place respectively, whilst in the 250cc class Alex de Angelis ended the season with his first career victory in the final round at Valencia to seal third place overall. Between them, they took a total of thirteen victories, fifteen second places, thirteen thirds and ten pole positions in a spectacular season.
From early in 2007 it was clear that the single cylinder title would again belong to an Aspar rider and after an intriguing battle between Hector Faubel and Gabor Talmacsi the World Championship eventually went to the Hungarian. Aspar were champions for the second successive season. Faubel was runner-up to Talmacsi with the team gaining eight wins, nine second places and six thirds. But the success was not confined to the Bancaja Aspar squad, as the 250cc championship saw the arrival of 2006 125cc World Champion Álvaro Bautista who formed a great partnership with Alex de Angelis in the Master-Mapfre Aspar team. Between them they took two wins, nine second place finishes and four thirds – again demonstrating the strength of the Aspar set-up.
Indeed the previous two years meant that expectations were high for the 2008 season. Repeating the success of 2006 and 2007 would be a big task, but the framework was already in place. Bancaja Aspar once again ran RSA Aprilia machinery in the 125cc class with World Champion Talmacsi and Sergio Gadea beginning the season as title favourites. The team was completed by Pere Tutusaus, a bright young Spanish star. Meanwhile the Master-Mapfre Aspar team also had a strong line-up, with 2006 125cc champion Bautista being joined in the pit-box by the 2007 125cc runner-up Faubel, both on RSA Aprilia bikes. Bautista was a a hot favourite for the title with the three riders who finished above him in the year’s standings all moving into MotoGP. All in all, both Aspar teams approached the new campaign with great expectations and returned to the podium on many occasions. Eleven in 250cc and ten in 125cc, eight of them victories – four in each category.
And once again, for 2009, Valencian manager Jorge Martinez established a great team, with two World Champions – Alvaro Bautista and Mike Di Meglio, and talented young British rider Bradley Smith- and two veterans hungry for victory – Julian Simon and Sergio Gadea.
Source: Aspar Media
