Repsol riders. Héctor Faubel
Date of birth: August 10th, 1983
Place of birth: Lliria (Valencia), Spain
Age: 21
First race: 1993 Regional Minibike Championship
First Grand Prix: 2000 Spanish Grand Prix (125cc)
Total Grand Prix: 50 (4 in 125cc and 46 in 250cc)
Best Grand Prix result: 6th Grand Prix of Brazil 2003 (250cc)
Career highights
1993: Winner Regional Minibike Championship
1994: 5th Regional Minibike Championship
1995: Regional Minibike ChampionRunner-up Spanish Minibike Championship
1996: Regional Minibike Champion 2nd Spanish Minibike Championship3rd Castilla La Mancha 80cc Regional Championship.
1997: 5th 125cc Spanish Championship9th 125cc Cagiva Cup
1998: 125cc Aprilia Cup Champion
1999: 12th 125cc GP Spanish Championship
2000: 9th 125cc GP Spanish Championship
2001: 3rd 125cc GP Spanish Championship
2002: Spanish 250cc GP Champion 23rd 250cc World Championship
2003: 13th 250cc World Championship
2004: 17th 250cc World Championship
Born in 1983, Héctors love for motorcycling ran in the family. His uncles, both from his fathers as well from his mothers side had taken part in road racing events. He began with motocross at the age of seven on a 60cc Kawasaki, practising with his dad in the surroundings of the family home. Next came the minibikes on a nearby karting circuit and then the first race, a regional event in La Puebla de Vallbona, Valencia. Héctor raced on a borrowed bike and won the race. In 1994, at the age of 10, he took part in Valencia Regional Championship, finishing fifth overall. He won the Regional Championship again in 1995 and the same year managed to finish runner-up in the Spanish Minibike Championship. In 1996 he won the Regional Championship and finished runner-up in the Spanish Championship again. The following year he got the opportunity to take part in the 125cc Cagiva Cup with a borrowed bike. It was the first time he raced in that class, but he finished ninth overall.
In 1998, at the age of fourteen, Faubel won the 125cc Aprilia Cup, which opened the door to the 125cc Spanish Championship. He finished twelfth in his first season. At that time, the ill-fated Ricardo Tormo was creating a road racing team. Tormo chose several riders from Valencia, to take part in the 125cc Aprilia Cup, among whom Faubel, who finally took the title. Héctor keeps very good memories of Tormo, who died at the end of that season. Ricardo Tormo was his discoverer and he became Spanish Champion with him. Jorge Martínez Aspar, signed him up for his team, the Team Aspar Airtel in 2000, and entered Hector in the Spanish Road Racing Championship. He finished ninth. Faubel also took part as a wild-card rider in two World Championship GPs, Jerez and Valencia. The following year he entered the Spanish Road Racing Championship for the third year, with the Aspar team as well, fighting for the title until the last race, although finally finishing third Ángel Rodríguez and Casey Stoner. In addition, Faubel took part in another two races of the World Championship, Jerez and Valencia, as in the previous year.
In 2002, Héctor made the step up to the Motorcycle World Championship with Aprilia in the quarter-litre-class and with the team of the Spanish Federation, together with Raúl Jara. It hadnt been in his plans, but he decided to take the risk. The preseason was short, everything went very fast. He had a bad time at the beginning; he crashed during the first race in Japan and his spirits went down. Then came the South African Grand Prix, and despite crashing again, in the last lap, he keeps a good memory of that race, because he started to feel integrated in his team and in the class. He managed to outshine his team-mate scoring in four GPs and finishing two places ahead. At the end of the season, Héctor became Spanish 250cc Champion and finished twenty-third in the World Championship. At the age of 19 and with larger experience, the Valencian rider faced his second season in the quarter-of-a-litre class with the Master Aspar Júnior Team. He scored in seven races and took a sixth place in the Brazil GP, his best result so far, good enough to finish the season in the thirteenth overall position. The 2004 season should have been Faubels season of confirmation in GPs. But the rider of the Grefusa Aspar Junior Team had to face clear mechanical disadvantages, in addition to an obvious bad lack. He had a poor start of the season and then broke his collarbone during the practice session of the Brazilian GP. He underwent surgery and wasnt able to race in Germany either.
In his comeback in England he didnt manage to get a good place during practice and wasnt able to finish the race, but his performance improved until he achieved his best result of the season in the last race of the year, Valencia, where he took ninth, finally finishing seventeenth overall in the Chanpionship. The 2005 season will be like returning to the origins. In his fourth GP season, Héctor Faubel gets back to the 125cc class in the Master Aspar Team. With this change, he intends to achieve everything that has been resisting itself for so long, the victory in the Motorcycle World Championship. It wont be easy, but this tireless worker has enough quality to make it. Héctor combines races with the gym at the Cheste circuit were he works out under the guidance of a personal trainer, and English classes in the afternoon. He lives with his parents in Lliria, his hometown, nearby the teams headquarters and he relaxes spending his free time with his family and friends. This young Valencian loves to play with his Play Station, to go to the movies or to spend time with his friends.
