Izan Guevara (Gaviota GASGAS Aspar Team) is the 2022 Moto3™ World Champion! The Majorcan took another stunning victory in the Animoca Brands Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix to wrap up the crown, taking himself more than the requisite 50 points clear with two rounds remaining.
Guevara, born in Majorca in 2004, was already riding motorcycles by the age of three. His first international success came in the European Talent Cup in 2019, as the Spaniard took two top tens in his debut races before winning a stunning six races in a row to take the crown as a rookie. That would be his calling card as an achievement the following season, too.
Guevara raced in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup in 2020 and moved into what was then the Moto3™ Junior World Championship, now known as JuniorGP™. There, it was a similar story to the ETC the year before: a few solid results prefaced a first win, a second place and then a run of four victories in a row – three of which were taken from P22 on the grid at MotorLand Aragon. In Valencia, Guevara completed the stunning feat of taking the crown as a rookie, defeating Xavier Artigas and Pedro Acosta.
The Majorcan then moved up to the Moto3™ World Championship for 2021 and hit the ground running. The number 28 made an impression immediately, homing in on the podium at Silverstone and Aragon with fourth places. That first rookie win finally came in a chaotic Americas GP, with the GASGAS Aspar rider having shown serious speed all weekend.
2022, therefore, saw Guevara head into the season as a contender from the off. He started the season one place further back than his Grand Prix debut after starting from the back, but was on the podium in Lombok – his first visit to the rostrum that wasn’t a win. By Jerez he was back on the top step with a true stunner of a victory, going round the outside at the final corner. He wasn’t off the podium again before Silverstone, including wins in Catalunya and Germany, and back-to-back glory came again in Aragon and on his first visit to Mobility Resort Motegi.
By Phillip Island, Guevara’s advantage had grown to 49 and the Majorcan had his first match point. He played it in style, escaping in a front group of four and then taking the lead to pull away on the final lap – sealing the crown with his sixth win of the season. Congratulations, Izan!
#1ZAN IN STATS
Aged 18 years 110 days old on race day at the Australian GP, Izan Guevara becomes the fifth youngest rider to clinch a lightweight world title ahead of Valentino Rossi, who was 18 years and 196 days old when he clinched the title in Brno in 1997.
Aged 17 years and 97 days old when he took his maiden Moto3™ win at the Americas GP last year, Guevara became the sixth youngest winner in the class behind Maverick Viñales (17 years and 86 days old).
This is the first time that a GASGAS rider has won the Moto3™ World Championship, and it's also the first title for a non-Honda or a non-KTM rider in the class.
Guevara has won seven times in Moto3™, and he is tied with Brad Binder and Sergio Garcia in ninth place on the list of riders with most wins in Moto3™.
Guevara has stood on the podium 11 times so far in 2022, which is more than everyone else in the class. With six wins in 2022 so far, he is also the most successful rider in terms of victories, ahead of Dennis Foggia.
Guevara is the seventh Spanish rider to win the Moto3™ title since the introduction of the class back in 2012, and the 16th Spanish rider to clinch the title in the lightweight category (the 23rd in GP racing). Guevara’s title is also the 22nd in the lightweight category for Spain and the 56th in Grand Prix racing.
Izan Guevara: "I'm really happy with my career so far. In 2019 I won the ETC, then Moto3 in JuniorGP with Aspar and I won my first year... then I moved to the Moto3 World Championship with the same team. Last year I was able to have a good season, I took a victory in Austin. A good rookie season. Then this year I pushed in every race to get my goal of being World Champion. And today I achieved it. I'm really happy.
"In the start of the race today it was really complicated with the slightly wet conditions, but the track dried quickly and I felt really comfortable. It was possible to push in the lead group with my pace, I'm so happy with this moment, this Championship... I'd like to thank my team, my family for the support, and all my friends.
"Today I was really focused on the race, in every overtake I didn't take any risk and I'm really happy with it, winning the Championship with the victory is an incredible moment and I'll enjoy it!"
BIOGRAPHY
First Grand Prix: Qatar 2021, Moto3™
First pole position: Qatar 2022, Moto3™
First podium: Americas 2021, Moto3™
First victory: Americas 2021, Moto3™
Grands Prix: 36
Victories: 7
Podiums: 12
Pole positions: 4
Fastest laps: 6
World Championships: Moto3™ (2022)
World Championship career:
2021: Moto3™ World Championship – 8th, GASGAS, 18 races, 125 points
2022: Moto3™ World Championship – 1st, GASGAS, 18* races, 290 points
DORNA