Date of birth: May 25th, 1989 Place of birth: Barcelona Age: 17 years
Palmarés
First race: Rieju Cup 2002 First Grand Prix:Gran Premi de la Comunitat Valenciana 2005 125cc. Grands Prix raced in 2005: Championship of Cataluña de Velocidad 125cc. Championship of España de Velocidad 125cc. Championship of España de Velocidad Supersport. Grands Prix raced in 2006: 24h of Motociclismo del Circuit de Cataluña. Championship de España de Velocidad 125cc. Championship de Cataluña 125cc. Championship de Cataluña e Supersport Campeonato del Mundo de Motociclismo 125cc. Championship de Europa de Motociclismo 25cc.
Trayectoria deportiva
2002
Championship KTM
2003
Championship Rieju Championship Honda XR400
2004
Championship KTM Championship CRF
Biografía
Just like any other children’s dream, Tito Rabat’s dream began on a 6th January at the age of three or four years. That magical night, in which the Three Kings bring Spanish children presents, they brought Tito’s first bike, a Beta Gara 25cc, with which he experienced his first rides in the mountains on Saturday mornings, always joined by his father. On Sunday’s the bike would stay in the garage and it was time for the four wheels.
His father, big motorsports fan, who had even competed with cars, took him every week to the Kartodrom de Catalunya, nearby the Montmeló Circuit, where Tito was able to cover his first kilometres. At the age of five he entered his first karting races, although Saturday morning was always reserved for the motorbike, be it the Honda Cup he got for his birthday, the Montesa Trial or the 125cc KTM he had when he was nine and twelve. However, in 2002 he decided that what he really wanted to do was motorbike racing, so he gave up karting and entered the Rieju Cup. That was his first experience in motorbike racing and he finished the series somewhere in the middle of the standings. The following year he took part in the Honda XR400 Cup – which was held in different circuits in Catalonia – and entered some races of the KTM 200 Cup, this time on a national level. At the age of 14 he had his debut in the Supersport class of the Catalan Motorcycling Championship, with a Honda CRB 600. That same year he also entered the CRF 450 Cup and even managed to win some of the races, finishing the series in third position. He also took part in the KTM 200 Cup, winning two races, but was unable to take part in all of the rounds because they would coincide with the other championships he was racing. Towards the end of the year, already 15 years old, Tito took the start in the two last rounds of the Spanish Road Racing Championship on his Honda CBR 600.It was in 2005 when Raúl Romero’s BQR Team decided to include him in the team to enter the Spanish Road Racing Championship (CEV). With his 125cc Honda, he managed to step on the podium in Cheste.
He continued racing the Catalan Series, even won some of the races, and he had the chance to race four rounds of the European Championship: Italy, Croatia, Hungary and Germany, his best results being two fourth places.Precocious and with a brief but intense background, 2006 was with no doubt the year in which Tito Rabat managed to take off. The chance to make the jump to the Motorcycling World Championship came at the 2006 Catalonia Grand Prix. Aleix Espargaró, BQR 125cc rider, moved up to the 250cc class due to internal changes in the team, leaving one of the eight-of-a-litre class bikes free. Rabat had his debut in Catalonia and raced the nine remaining rounds of the Motorcycling World Championship. In his world championship debut, and after taking the 19th position during the practice, he managed to overtake seven rivals at the start, but crashed before finishing the first lap.
After four races in which he crashed twice, he managed to score his first world championship points at the Malaysian Grand Prix, where he finished twelfth. Just one week later, in Phillip Island, he was knocked down halfway the race while fighting to be back in the points. He had a further good performance in Motegi, repeating his twelfth place. At the penultimate race staged in Estoril, bad luck came over him. He touched with another rider and crossed the finish line in sixteenth position. Two weeks later he finished the World Championship scoring further points in Cheste with the thirteenth place.
Tito Rabat had been contesting the Spanish Road Racing Championship at the same time, and it had been a rather difficult start of the season due to his quite dreadful starts. At the first race staged in Albacete, he was last after the first lap, despite qualifying second on the starting grid. He was eventually fourth under the chequered flag, with completely worn-out tyres. The same story applied to Jerez and Albacete.
After improving his weak side, Rabat managed to make a step forward in the following races. He got onto the second step of the podium in Valencia, and achieved the same result at the next race, staged in Montmeló. He clinched the victory in his second visit to the Ricardo Tormo circuit, a position he managed to repeat at the last race staged in Jerez, thus becoming runner-up of the 125cc Spanish Championship.After his first experience in the World Championship in 2006, Tito Rabat will face this 2007 season as a big chance to continue learning as much as possible and to give his best, thanks to the backing of a team like the Repsol Honda Junior Team.
After discovering the charm of countries like Australia or mythical race tracks as Donington Park, Rabat will continue learning new circuits this year, while having the chance to measure up once again with the best riders of the world.
