Thirty years in Jerez, a talisman territory for Spanish motorcycle racing
We take a look back at thirty years of motorcycle racing at the Jerez Circuit, a track that has been a talisman for Spanish riders.
In 1987 the Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix was run for the first time at the Circuito de Jerez. So, after this year’s 2017 edition, thirty years of racing have been completed on the Jerez track, thirty years of good fortune for Spanish motorcycle racing.
And it is that Jerez has something special for our riders: it is the motivation of racing at home, the great atmosphere with thousands of people filling every corner of the circuit, the usual good weather (always with exceptions)… The fact is that the Spanish GP has always been good for Spanish motorcycle racing, and now we are going to see why we can say that Jerez is a talisman.
As we said, in thirty years of racing in Jerez the Spanish national anthem has not sounded only eight times in Jerez: 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2001, 2009 and 2016. Although, it must be pointed out that in all of them there was some Spaniard on the podium, except for 1991, where Juan Garriga (4th in 500cc), Carlos Cardús (5th in 250cc) and Aspar (5th in 125cc) were the best classified.
The first time the Spanish anthem played in Jerez was thanks to Jorge Martínez “Aspar”, who won the 80cc race in 1987. This category survived in the World Championship for two more years, with victories in Jerez for Aspar in 1988 (that year in Jerez it was run under the name GP Expo 92 and the Spanish GP was at the Jarama) and for Torrontegi in 1989.
The first victory in the 125cc category (and later Moto3) was achieved by Alex Crivillé in 1989. Besides the Catalan rider, the following riders have also won in Jerez in this category: Aspar, Emilio Alzamora, Álvaro Bautista, Pol Espargaró, Nico Terol, Maverick Viñales and Aaron Canet (the latter this year, 2017).
As for the 250cc, today’s Moto2, the first victory by a Spaniard in Jerez came during that GP Expo 92 of 1988, thanks to Joan Garriga. In the following years, riders such as Fonsi Nieto, Toni Elías, Dani Pedrosa, a Jorge Lorenzo who precisely ran his first race in the World Championship in Jerez and who has won here the most times among Spaniards (since the king of Jerez is still Rossi), Pol Espargaró, Tito Rabat and Álex Márquez won races in Jerez in this category.
Alberto Puig in 1995 achieved the first victory of Spanish motorcycle racing in the queen category, today’s MotoGP, then called 500cc. Puig was followed by a Crivillé who won three consecutive years in Jerez in unforgettable duels with Doohan, Sete Gibernau, Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez.
Finally, it should be noted that on three occasions in these thirty years of racing in Jerez, all three races were won by Spanish riders. The first time was in 2010, with the victories of Pol Espargaró in 125cc, Toni Elías in Moto2 and Jorge Lorenzo in MotoGP. The second time was in 2013, with the victories of Maverick Viñales in Moto3, Tito Rabat in Moto2 and Dani Pedrosa in MotoGP. And the third and last in this 2017 edition, in which Aarón Canet in Moto3, Álex Márquez in Moto2 and Dani Pedrosa in MotoGP claimed the victories.
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