Pons Racing
This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2023) |
Base | London, UK |
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Riders' Championships | Moto2: 2013: Pol Espargaró MotoE: 2020: Jordi Torres 2021: Jordi Torres 2023: Mattia Casadei |
Teams' Championships | Moto2: 2019 MotoE: 2023 |
Founded | 1992 |
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Former series | Formula Renault 3.5 Series |
Teams' Championships | 2004 World Series by Nissan |
Drivers' Championships | 2004 World Series by Nissan (Kovalainen) |
Website | www |
Pons Racing was a motorcycle and auto racing team owned by the British company Pons Racing UK Limited. The team principal is former 250 cc world champion, Sito Pons. In motorcycle road racing world championships, Pons has fielded riders such as Alex Barros, Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau. In auto racing, his team won the 2004 World Series by Nissan championship with driver Heikki Kovalainen.
At the end of 2023, the team officially left Grand Prix motorcycle racing as a whole.[1]
History
[edit]500cc (1992 - 2001)
[edit]2001
The year saw the arrival of new title sponsor in West cigarettes, replacing Emerson Electronics after just one year.
MotoGP (2002 - 2005)
[edit]2002
[edit]Both Barros and Capirossi remained in the team with the factory-spec NSR500 in the year where 990cc four-stroke machinery made their debut in the top class.[1]
West Honda Pons had a solid season with the 500cc bikes where Barros scored two consecutive podiums in Assen and Donington Park, while Capirossi finished third in Welkom before suffered wrist injury in Assen. German Alex Hofmann filled Capirossi's seat in Donington and Sachsenring, finished 10th in his home race.[2]
Alex Barros was given the four-stroke RC211V in the last four races of the season, the decision which paid off by finished in top three in those four races, two of them being a victory in Motegi and Valencia, ended the season in fourth place, eleven points behind second placed Max Biaggi. Capirossi scored another podium in Motegi, finished eighth in the final standings.
At the end of the season both riders left Honda Pons, along with title sponsor West.
2003
[edit]Honda Pons entered a new chapter in team's history, with R. J. Reynolds's Camel cigarettes became team's title sponsor.[3] Max Biaggi joined the team from factory Yamaha team, while HRC moved Tohru Ukawa from Repsol Honda.[2] Both riders rode the customer-spec RC211V.
Biaggi won 2 races in Donington Park (After Rossi got 10-seconds time penalty for yellow flag infringement) and Motegi en route to third place in the standings, while Ukawa ended the season in eight place before demoted to factory testing role with Honda, ended his full time Grand Prix career.[4]
2004
[edit]Max Biaggi remained in the team, joined by Makoto Tamada as Pons and Pramac Racing collaborate as one team. Due to the agreement, Tamada raced with Bridgestone tires, while Biaggi remained with Michelin.[3]
The team's technical director Antonio Cobas passed away in Barcelona just days before the opening round in South Africa.[5] Max Biaggi finished the race in second place after battled with Valentino Rossi throughout the race. Camel Honda then won two races in a row in Brazil and Germany courtesy of Tamada and Biaggi respectively, with Tamada's victory was the first for Bridgestone in MotoGP. Tamada scored another win in Motegi en route to sixth place in the standings, while Biaggi ended the year in the same way he finished 2003, in third place.
2005
[edit]The agreement with Pramac ended as the company switched to D'Antin Racing as title sponsor, while Camel remained in the team. Alex Barros returned to the team after spending the last two seasons with Tech3 and Repsol Honda respectively, along with Troy Bayliss who left Ducati.
Barros winning in Portugal along with 11 top-10 finishes, finished 8th in the standings. Bayliss scored 5 top-10 finishes in 11 races, however his season was cut short when he injured his wrist in a motocross accident.[6] Tohru Ukawa, Shane Byrne, Chris Vermeulen and Ryuichi Kiyonari filled Bayliss's seat for the remainder of the season. Both Barros and Bayliss moved to Superbike World Championship at the end of the season
Pons signed Carlos Checa and Australian rookie Casey Stoner for the 2006 season. However, the team lost their title sponsor Camel, who moved to Yamaha, forcing the team to withdraw from MotoGP after 25 seasons in the sport.[4] Checa ended up moved to Tech 3, while Lucio Cecchinello's LCR Team secured the lease of one of the RC211V and signed Stoner.
250cc / Moto2 (2009 - present)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Miguel_Molina_2007_WSBR.jpg/220px-Miguel_Molina_2007_WSBR.jpg)
Results
[edit]Motorcycle racing
[edit]Year | Class | Team name | Motorcycle | Riders | Races | Wins | Podiums | Poles | F. laps | Points | Pos. |
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1992 | 500cc | Campsa Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
1 | 1 | 59 | 8th | |||
1993 | 500cc | Marlboro Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
0 | 2 | 117 | 8th | |||
250cc | Honda NSR250 | ![]() |
0 | 2 | 106 | 9th | |||||
1994 | 500cc | Ducados Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
0 | 1 | 152 | 5th | |||
1995 | 500cc | Fortuna Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
1 | 3 | 99 | 8th | |||
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0 | 0 | 26 | 16th | |||||||
250cc | Honda NSR250 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | 45 | 13th | |||||
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0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||||||
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0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||||||
1996 | 500cc | Fortuna Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
0 | 1 | 93 | 11th | |||
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1 | 3 | 124 | 8th | |||||||
1997 | 500cc | Movistar Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
0 | 0 | 63 | 12th | |||
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0 | 3 | 119 | 8th | |||||||
1998 | 500cc | Movistar Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
11 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 139 | 4th |
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11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 12th | ||||
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1 (12)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (3)[a] | 32nd | ||||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27th | ||||
1999 | 500cc | Movistar Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 110 | 9th |
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16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 92 | 12th | ||||
2000 | 500cc | Emerson Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
16 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 163 | 4th |
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16 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 154 | 7th | ||||
2001 | 500cc | West Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 | ![]() |
16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 182 | 4th |
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16 | 0 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 210 | 3rd | ||||
2002 | MotoGP | West Honda Pons | Honda NSR500 Honda RC211V |
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16 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 204 | 4th |
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14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 109 | 8th | ||||
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2 (4)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 (11)[a] | 22nd | ||||
2003 | MotoGP | Camel Pramac Pons | Honda RC211V | ![]() |
16 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 228 | 3rd |
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16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 123 | 8th | ||||
2004 | MotoGP | Camel Honda | Honda RC211V | ![]() |
16 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 217 | 3rd |
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16 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 150 | 6th | ||||
2005 | MotoGP | Camel Honda | Honda RC211V | ![]() |
17 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 147 | 8th |
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11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 54 | 15th | ||||
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 21st | ||||
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2 (11)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 (6)[a] | 24th | ||||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 25th | ||||
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1 (2)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1)[a] | 27th | ||||
2009 | 250cc | Pepe World Team | Aprilia RSA 250 | ![]() |
16 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 239 | 2nd |
Aprilia RSW 250 LE | ![]() |
16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 26th | |||
2010 | Moto2 | Tenerife 40 Pons | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 67 | 17th |
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14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 33rd | ||||
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1 (3)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 31st | ||||
2011 | Moto2 | Pons HP 40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 76 | 12th |
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12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 32nd | ||||
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3 (14)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (18)[a] | 27th | ||||
2012 | Moto2 | Pons 40 HP Tuenti
Tuenti Móvil HP 40 |
Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
17 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 3 | 268 | 2nd |
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17 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 114 | 7th | ||||
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17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 25th | ||||
2013 | Moto2 | Tuenti HP 40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
17 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 4 | 265 | 1st |
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17 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 216 | 3rd | ||||
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17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 25th | ||||
2014 | Moto2 | Pons HP 40
Paginas Amarillas HP 40 |
Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 8th |
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18 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 274 | 3rd | ||||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||||
2015 | Moto2 | Paginas Amarillas HP 40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 13th |
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18 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 234 | 2nd | ||||
Pons Racing Junior Team | ![]() |
3 (8) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | |||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NC | ||||
2016 | Moto2 | Páginas Amarillas HP 40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
18 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 214 | 3rd |
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14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31st | ||||
2017 | Moto2 | Pons HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 13th |
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18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 34th | ||||
2018 | Moto2 | Pons HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
19 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 162 | 5th |
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6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 23rd | ||||
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12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 45 | 18th | ||||
2019 | Moto2 | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
19 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 171 | 7th |
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17 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 207 | 5th | ||||
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10 (11) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 35th | ||||
MotoE | Join Contract Pons 40 | Energica Ego Corsa | ![]() |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 11th | |
2020 | Moto2 | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 71 | 12th |
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15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 63 | 16th | ||||
MotoE | Pons Racing 40 | Energica Ego Corsa | ![]() |
7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 114 | 1st | |
2021 | Moto2 | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 23rd |
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18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 19th | ||||
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1 (4) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 30th | ||||
MotoE | Pons Racing 40 HP Pons 40 |
Energica Ego Corsa | ![]() |
7 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 100 | 1st | |
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7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 17th | ||||
2022 | Moto2 | Flexbox HP40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 14th |
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19 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 200 | 3rd | ||||
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31st | ||||
MotoE | Pons Racing 40 | Energica Ego Corsa | ![]() |
12 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 156 | 4th | |
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9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 11th | ||||
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 21st | ||||
2023 | Moto2 | Pons Wegow Los40 | Kalex Moto2 | ![]() |
20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 84 | 15th |
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20 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 195 | 5th | ||||
MotoE | HP Pons Los40 | Ducati V21L | ![]() |
16 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 150 | 6th | |
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16 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 260 | 1st |
- Notes
* Season still in progress.
Formula Renault 3.5 Series
[edit]Year | Team name | Drivers | Races | Wins | Podiums | Poles | F. laps | Points | Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | ![]() |
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17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 24th |
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17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 20th | ||
2014 | ![]() |
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5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26th |
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17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 19th | ||
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12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 22nd | ||
2015 | ![]() |
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9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 26th |
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8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 14th | ||
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 24th | ||
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2 (9)[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 (1)[a] | 0 (20)[a] | 15th | ||
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27th | ||
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6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 18th | ||
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2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 22nd | ||
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4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28th |
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "PONS Racing closes a stage as Sito Pons faces a new era". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 26 August 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ Sports, Dorna. "Tohru Ukawa joins Honda Pons for the 2003 season | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ Sports, Dorna. "Camel Honda announce official line-up | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
- ^ Sports, Dorna. "Pons pulls out of MotoGP | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.