Marc Márquez, 125cc World Champion will make the leap up to the Moto2 category with the support of Repsol which has been alongside the young rider since his beginnings in the Motorcycle World Championships. The agreement, which is for two years, guarantees that the Spanish sportsman will have all the technical and personnel resources necessary to do battle in such a competitive category as Moto2 within the framework of a solid and stable project.
Repsol has supported Marc Márquez since his World Championship debut in 2008 at just 15 years old. Last season, the energy company exclusively developed and supplied the fuel and lubricant for the 125cc World Champion from the Repsol Technology Centre located in Móstoles (Madrid).
The sportsman from Cervera (Lleida), at 17 years of age, will compete in Moto2 as the only rider in a Monlau Competition team, with a Suter chassis and a 600cc engine, that supplied by Honda to all the motorcycles in the category.
Emilio Alzamora, 1999 125cc World Champion with Repsol, will act as Team Manager in the Marc Márquez Moto2 team. The chief mechanic will be Santi Hernández, who has experience in Moto2 and also the old premier class (500cc) and in MotoGP where he worked with riders such as Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau. In the new category, Marc Márquez will be surrounded by mechanics, engineers and a telemetry engineer with a wealth of experience in the Motorcycle World Championships. As such, the rider from Lleida will benefit from the twelve years of experience of Monlau Competition plus Repsol’s more than 40 years in the world of racing.
First Test
Marc Márquez will ride a Moto2 motorcycle tomorrow, Wednesday, at the Jerez (Cádiz) circuit test sessions to begin preparations for the 2011 season. The World Championships will start on the 20th March with the Qatar Grand Prix and will end on the 6th of November with the Comunitat Valenciana Grand Prix at the Ricardo Tormo de Cheste Circuit (Valencia).
The contract was signed by the Repsol Corporate Director of Communications and Presidential Cabinet, Begoña Elices and Emilio Alzamora, Marc Márquez’s manager and Director of Monlau Competition, a centre for the development of riders and mechanics. The philosophy of the agreement is based on supporting grass-roots sports as Repsol are backing Álex Rins and Álex Márquez. Both riders, aged 14, will again ride in the 2011 Spanish Speed Championships (SSC).
Aged just 17 years and 264 days, Marc Márquez became on the 7th November this year, the youngest Spanish rider to win a Motorcycle World Championship. The Emilio Alzamora protégé has beaten many other records: last season he won four pole positions and took five race wins consecutively at only 17 years old, beating the records held by Valentino Rossi since 1997, and won 12 pole positions in one season, equalling the historic milestone of Mick Doohan, amongst other achievements.
Repsol, with more than 40 years in the world of competition – an unbeatable test bench for its products – has gained a great amount of experience in the development and manufacture of fuel and lubricants for the main motorsport competitions. The company has maintained a collaborative agreement with Honda since 1995 and is the main sponsor of the MotoGP Repsol Honda Team. It also has a presence in other competitions, such as that of the Trial World Championships.
