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Origins
Pol Espargaro was born on June 10, 1991 and is the younger brother of his Grand Prix racing driver Aleix Espargaro. Originally from Granollers, Spain, Espargaro spent much of his childhood just a stone’s throw from the Montmelo circuit and quickly developed an interest in motorcycles. Pol rose rapidly through the domestic ranks in Spain, competing against many of the names who would become his greatest rivals in Grand Prix racing for years to come.
World Cup debut
With a strong year in the CEV, which finally took the title this season, Espargaro made his wildcard debut in front of a home crowd at the 2006 Catalan GP and drove to a solid point position. This made him the youngest driver to score points in a Grand Prix when he was only 15 years and 8 days old. He would then be called up in the closing stages of the 2006 World Championship season to drive a Derbi instead of the injured Andrea Iannone. Of the six races, Pol scored three goals with a top sixth place in the last race of the year in Valencia.
Full time
A full-time drive in the 125cc World Championship was the next step for the young Spanish talent, who scored seven points in a row in his first ten races with two top 5 finishes. The highlight of the season was the Portuguese Grand Prix, when Espargaro scored his first Grand Prix podium with a thrilling drive to third place. Pol failed to finish just four races and consistently fought for the top ten. He scored a total of 110 points and finished ninth overall in the championship as he continued to impress and make a name for himself as Rookie of the Year.
2008 was another solid year with Pol building on the foundations he’d laid over the previous two seasons. He took three podiums – second place at the Grand Prix of Catalonia and Indianapolis – and started both races from pole position. When Pol finished the year in ninth again, Pol’s talent and persistence continued to exude as he developed and grew as a racing driver.
Race winner
The following season Pol had the breakthrough and he was race winner at the Indianapolis Grand Prix. In a spectacular, easy class race, he beat British Bradley Smith by just 0.120 seconds. It wouldn’t be long before Espargaro reached the top step of the podium again and just two races later won the Portuguese Grand Prix, the site of his first GP podium. With three additional podium places during the year and a race below tenth place Espargaro finished fourth overall in the championship standings.
As in previous years, Espargaro would take another step in 2010 and start a championship challenge in his final year in the lightweight class. Fourth place in the first race of the year was followed by two wins in Spain and France and four podiums in a row. Espargaro battled for the 125cc crown with Nico Terol and Marc Marquez for the remainder of the 2010 season and only missed the title by 29 points at the end of the season when Espargaro finished third overall. The year cemented Pol as one of the hottest talents in the smaller classes, and the next step in his career would come the following season.
Intermediate Challenger
For 2011, Pol Espargaro switched to the still new Moto2 class on board an FTR and after a rocky start saw constant growth over the course of the season. Indianapolis would be another special race for the Granollers-born rider as he climbed the podium for the first time in Moto2 with an excellent second place. Pol finished the season with 75 points and moved to the successful Pons team for the following season.
Pol Espargaro took his first win in the second race of the season and was a title contender from the start. His old sparring partner, Marc Marquez, was his main competitor for the campaign as the pair traded in profits for most of the season. It would be Marc who eventually won his competition. Espargaro ended the season in second place overall thanks to four wins and six other podiums. The year was full of close races and tough battles between the two championship candidates. By early 2013, it was clear that Pol would be the man to beat in Moto2 if he continued in the same structure.
Title run
A win in the first race of the year in Qatar made for a perfect title run for Pol Espargaro, but it wasn’t until the sixth lap of the season that he was back on the top step of the podium. During the early and middle part of the championship, Brit Scott Redding was the only driver to consistently challenge Espargaro. As soon as the Spaniard found his rhythm, he was able to steadily increase his points advantage. After six wins, Espargaro finally collected 40 points more than Redding. His championship earned him a position in the MotoGP class with Yamaha on a satellite bike.
Again rookie of the year
Pol’s premier class debut followed a similar pattern to his previous class debuts: steady progress and consistency throughout the year. A DNF in the inaugural race was quickly left behind as Pol took six straight top ten finishes, including a superb fourth place at the French GP. While there wouldn’t be any podiums in his first year, Pol never finished a race below ninth, finishing the year as rookie of the year and leading satellite driver.
Consistency king
2015 and 2016 followed a similar theme to his first year in the MotoGP class. Pol finished only two races in the 35 races he did outside of the top ten. He and his teammate, Tech 3’s Bradley Smith, fought regularly on the track, with Espargaro gaining the upper hand in 2016 en route to eighth overall. Fourth place would remain his best result if he was with Yamaha and got close to the podium several times. After three strong years, Espargaro has established himself as a capable and experienced pair of hands in MotoGP and called a new challenge.
Suzuka 8 hours
During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Espargaro took part in the legendary Suzuka 8 Hours between his MotoGP duties. With limited experience in superbike and endurance racing, Espargaro adapted immediately to the new circumstances in 2015 and continued to build his pace the following year. As an impressive qualifier, many of the Suzuka regulars were successful in the shootout when Pol set a new lap record of 2,06,000 to start from pole for the 2015 edition. He and his teammates would win the 2015 and 2016 editions – Pol was only the second Spanish driver to reach the top step of the 8 hours.
development
Pol Espargaro moved to the KTM Factory Team for 2017 when the Austrian brand made its debut in the premier class. There were speed bumps at the start, but inconsistencies and DNFs plagued the inaugural races of Espargaro and KTM together as they began the daunting task of developing a MotoGP machine. In the tenth round of the season in Brno, KTM and Pol achieved their first top ten positions together and ended the season at a high point with six points in the last seven races – three more in the top ten. Espargaro’s presence clearly helped KTM on their MotoGP journey as they looked forward to a second year together.
Mixed wealth
The 2018 season started on a much stronger foundation for Pol and KTM and only missed points once in the first eight races. Compared to the races in the previous year, Pol and KTM had achieved significant improvements in the further course of the development of the Austrian machine. Unfortunately, Pol’s season would be disrupted by an injury, the Spanish riding crashed in Germany and six races were missing – and just returned at the start of the fly-aways. But the year would end at a climax, a soaked circuit in Valencia where Pol can shine and storm through to win his first premier class podium. Although he only scored 51 points, the season showed that Espargaro had even more potential.
Back in shape
It was back to the regular program in 2019, when Espargaro had another of its trademark-consistent seasons, almost doubling the points it scored the previous year to just 100. As in previous years, Pol was able to narrow the gap to the front in almost every race as KTM became an increasingly regular finisher in the top ten. A highlight of the year was the French GP with fourth place, but a total of eight top ten placements legitimized the work that Pol and KTM had done in recent years.
Podium man
Despite the difficult start to the 2020 season due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Pol Espargaro remained strong and would become one of the standout performers of the shortened season. Pole position, a fastest lap and an almost unbelievable battle in the last corner for victory at the Styrian GP would bring Pol back onto the podium for the first time since 2018. He wouldn’t have to wait long for his next podium, two races later at Misano with another third place. After finishing on the podium twice in the first seven races in 2020, it already looked like Pol’s most competitive season in the MotoGP class.
Three more podiums, including another pole at Valencia, would help move the younger Espargaro to fifth in the championship – his highest overall finish in the premier class. Pol also showed racing speed several times, bad luck and other drivers prematurely ended his chances. After three years developing the KTM, Pol Espargaro decided to take on a new challenge and joined the renowned Repsol Honda team alongside Marc Marquez in 2021.