David de Gea with the Repsol Honda Team 250 in Japan

De Gea participated in 1999 in the Supersport World Championship and raced five Grand Prix of the 500cc World Championship on a Honda V2 as a substitute to the injured Jose Luis Cardoso. His good style on a strictly standard two-cylinder bike in front of the powerful four-cylinder machines of Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki attracted the attention of Kenny Roberts Senior, who hired him in 2000 to race 9 Grand Prix with  the Proton KR, and he finished the championship in 17th position. The next season, he raced with the Antena 3 Yamaha dAntín Team in the 250cc class and took his first and only podium at the Dutch Grand Prix where he finished third after a complicated race under the rain. 2003 was a difficult season in the WCM Harris Team, with whom he raced 9 Grand Prix races of the MotoGP World Championship. One year later, in 2004, he raced five races of the 250cc World Championship with the Honda BQR Team, with which he is currently taking part in the Spanish Extreme Series.

Career highlights