Avintia Racing


Avintia Racing is a motorcycle racing team currently competing in the MotoGP and Moto3 World Championships under the name Hublot Reale Avintia Racing and a Spanish license, as well as in the MotoE World Cup under the name Avintia Esponsorama Racing and an Andorran license.

History

Domestic racing

The team was set up in 1994 by Raul Romero and Josep Oliva as By Queroseno Racing, also known as Team BQR. Competing in the Spanish Road Racing Championship, BQR won three Fórmula Extreme and two 125GP class titles with riders José David de Gea, Stefan Bradl and Efrén Vázquez.

Grand Prix racing

125cc and 250cc classes

After many wild card appearances in the World Championship, BQR became a full entry in the 2001 season using Honda bikes in the 250cc class. In 2007 the team switched to Aprilia machinery. BQR won its first World Championship race with Scott Redding riding an Aprilia 125 at the 2008 British Grand Prix.

Moto3

In 2017, Avintia entered Vicente Pérez in 2 races as a wildcard. For 2018 the team entered a single full-season entry, beginning the season with Livio Loi for the first seven rounds and replacing him with Pérez for the remainder of the season. In 2019 the team began with Pérez for the first seven rounds, but replacing him with Stefano Nepa for the remaining races, and addition to a number of wildcard entries for Nepa, Meikon Kawakami, and Carlos Tatay. In 2020, Avintia entered Tatay as their sole full-season entry.

Moto2

The team unveiled the first Moto2 bike in February 2009 and fielded a prototype in the 2009 Spanish Road Racing Championship. In 2010, they participated in the new Moto2 World Championship, with Yonny Hernández and Mashel Al Naimi as riders. The team continued in Moto2 until the conclusion of the 2013 season. In 2018, the team made a significant number of wildcard entries with rider Xavi Cardelús.

MotoGP

In the team changed its name to Avintia Racing, following an alliance between BQR and the Grupo Avintia. The team debuted in the MotoGP class as a Claiming Rule Team using both FTR Moto and Inmotec frames badged as BQR, powered by Kawasaki engines. The riders were Iván Silva and Yonny Hernández. In Avintia entered the MotoGP class with Kawasaki-engined FTR frames, fielding two bikes for Hiroshi Aoyama and Héctor Barberá.
For the season Aoyama was replaced by Mike Di Meglio and the team fielded a new bike badged as the Avintia GP14, reportedly based on the 2007-2009 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR with some input from Kawasaki. Following a mid-season agreement between Avintia and Ducati, Barberá received an Open-specification Ducati Desmosedici for the last five rounds.
In the team entered two Open class Desmosedici GP14 motorcycles, for Barberá and Di Meglio. For Di Meglio was replaced by Loris Baz. In the team changed its name to Reale Esponsorama Racing.
In 2018, Tito Rabat and Xavier Siméon joined the team. At the British Grand Prix, Rabat's major crash with Franco Morbidelli at Stowe corner was a contributing factor in the decision to cancel the race due to unsafe conditions. As a result of the triple fracture he sustained to his right leg, Rabat missed the remaining 7 races of the 2018 season, and was replaced by Christophe Ponsson and Jordi Torres. For 2019, Rabat returned and was partnered by Czech rider Karel Abraham. In 2020, Rabat was retained, this time paired with Johann Zarco.

MotoE

As a satellite team in MotoGP, Avintia was given an entry in the inaugural MotoE World Cup in 2019. The team achieved 2 wins with Eric Granado and 2 podiums with their former MotoGP rider Xavier Siméon, good for 3rd and 6th place in the championship, respectively. For the 2020 season, the team retained Granado and partnered him with their former Moto2 rider, Andorran Xavier Cardelús. Subsequently and combined with title sponsorship from Andorran firm Esponsorama, the team decided from 2020 to enter the MotoE team under an Andorran license as opposed to the Spanish license used in all other categories.

Results

*on-going season