Pons Racing

Founded	1992
Former series	Formula Renault 3.5 Series
Teams'; Championships	2004 World Series by Nissan
Drivers'; Championships	2004 World Series by Nissan (Kovalainen)
Website	www.ponsracing.com

Pons Racing
Base	London, UK
Riders' Championships	Moto2:; 2013: Pol Espargaró; MotoE:; 2020: Jordi Torres; 2021: Jordi Torres; 2023: Mattia Casadei
Teams' Championships	Moto2:; 2019; MotoE:; 2023

Pons Racing was a motorcycle and auto racing team owned by the British company Pons Racing UK Limited. The team principal is former 250 cc world champion, Sito Pons. In motorcycle road racing world championships, Pons has fielded riders such as Alex Barros, Max Biaggi, Loris Capirossi and Sete Gibernau. In auto racing, his team won the 2004 World Series by Nissan championship with driver Heikki Kovalainen.

At the end of 2023, the team officially left Grand Prix motorcycle racing as a whole.^[1]

History

500cc (1992 - 2001)

2001

The year saw the arrival of new title sponsor in West cigarettes, replacing Emerson Electronics after just one year.

MotoGP (2002 - 2005)

2002

Both Barros and Capirossi remained in the team with the factory-spec NSR500 in the year where 990cc four-stroke machinery made their debut in the top class.[1]

West Honda Pons had a solid season with the 500cc bikes where Barros scored two consecutive podiums in Assen and Donington Park, while Capirossi finished third in Welkom before suffered wrist injury in Assen. German Alex Hofmann filled Capirossi's seat in Donington and Sachsenring, finished 10th in his home race.[2]

Alex Barros was given the four-stroke RC211V in the last four races of the season, the decision which paid off by finished in top three in those four races, two of them being a victory in Motegi and Valencia, ended the season in fourth place, eleven points behind second placed Max Biaggi. Capirossi scored another podium in Motegi, finished eighth in the final standings.

At the end of the season both riders left Honda Pons, along with title sponsor West.

2003

Honda Pons entered a new chapter in team's history, with R. J. Reynolds's Camel cigarettes became team's title sponsor.[3] Max Biaggi joined the team from factory Yamaha team, while HRC moved Tohru Ukawa from Repsol Honda.^[2] Both riders rode the customer-spec RC211V.

Biaggi won 2 races in Donington Park (After Rossi got 10-seconds time penalty for yellow flag infringement) and Motegi en route to third place in the standings, while Ukawa ended the season in eight place before demoted to factory testing role with Honda, ended his full time Grand Prix career.[4]

2004

Max Biaggi remained in the team, joined by Makoto Tamada as Pons and Pramac Racing collaborate as one team. Due to the agreement, Tamada raced with Bridgestone tires, while Biaggi remained with Michelin.^[3]

The team's technical director Antonio Cobas died in Barcelona just days before the opening round in South Africa.[5] Max Biaggi finished the race in second place after battled with Valentino Rossi throughout the race. Camel Honda then won two races in a row in Brazil and Germany courtesy of Tamada and Biaggi respectively, with Tamada's victory was the first for Bridgestone in MotoGP. Tamada scored another win in Motegi en route to sixth place in the standings, while Biaggi ended the year in the same way he finished 2003, in third place.

2005

The agreement with Pramac ended as the company switched to D'Antin Racing as title sponsor, while Camel remained in the team. Alex Barros returned to the team after spending the last two seasons with Tech3 and Repsol Honda respectively, along with Troy Bayliss who left Ducati.

Barros winning in Portugal along with 11 top-10 finishes, finished 8th in the standings. Bayliss scored 5 top-10 finishes in 11 races, however his season was cut short when he injured his wrist in a motocross accident.[6] Tohru Ukawa, Shane Byrne, Chris Vermeulen and Ryuichi Kiyonari filled Bayliss's seat for the remainder of the season. Both Barros and Bayliss moved to Superbike World Championship at the end of the season

Pons signed Carlos Checa and Australian rookie Casey Stoner for the 2006 season. However, the team lost their title sponsor Camel, who moved to Yamaha, forcing the team to withdraw from MotoGP after 25 seasons in the sport.^[4] Checa ended up moved to Tech 3, while Lucio Cecchinello's LCR Team secured the lease of one of the RC211V and signed Stoner.

250cc / Moto2 (2009 - present)

Results

Motorcycle racing

Year	Class	Team name	Motorcycle	Riders	Races	Wins	Podiums	Poles	F. laps	Points	Pos.
1992	500cc	Campsa Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Àlex Crivillé		1	1			59	8th
1993	500cc	Marlboro Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Àlex Crivillé		0	2			117	8th
1993	250cc	Marlboro Honda Pons	Honda NSR250	Alberto Puig		0	2			106	9th
1994	500cc	Ducados Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alberto Puig		0	1			152	5th
1995	500cc	Fortuna Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alberto Puig		1	3			99	8th
	500cc		Honda NSR500	Carlos Checa		0	0			26	16th
	250cc		Honda NSR250	Carlos Checa		0	0			45	13th
				Rubén Xaus		0	0			0	NC
				Sete Gibernau		0	0			0	NC
1996	500cc	Fortuna Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alberto Puig		0	1			93	11th
1996	500cc	Fortuna Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Carlos Checa		1	3			124	8th
1997	500cc	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alberto Puig		0	0			63	12th
1997	500cc	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Carlos Checa		0	3			119	8th
1998	500cc	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Carlos Checa	11	1	3	1	1	139	4th
				John Kocinski	11	0	0	0	0	64	12th
				Juan Borja	1 (12)^[a]	0	0	0	0	0 (3)^[a]	32nd
				Gregorio Lavilla	1	0	0	0	0	5	27th
1999	500cc	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alex Barros	16	0	1	0	2	110	9th
1999	500cc	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Juan Borja	16	0	0	0	0	92	12th
2000	500cc	Emerson Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alex Barros	16	2	3	3	1	163	4th
2000	500cc	Emerson Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Loris Capirossi	16	1	4	1	2	154	7th
2001	500cc	West Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Alex Barros	16	1	4	0	0	182	4th
2001	500cc	West Honda Pons	Honda NSR500	Loris Capirossi	16	0	9	4	1	210	3rd
2002	MotoGP	West Honda Pons	Honda NSR500 Honda RC211V	Alex Barros	16	2	6	1	2	204	4th
				Loris Capirossi	14	0	2	0	0	109	8th
				Alex Hofmann	2 (4)^[a]	0	0	0	0	6 (11)^[a]	22nd
2003	MotoGP	Camel Pramac Pons	Honda RC211V	Max Biaggi	16	2	9	3	1	228	3rd
2003	MotoGP	Camel Pramac Pons	Honda RC211V	Tohru Ukawa	16	0	0	0	0	123	8th
2004	MotoGP	Camel Honda	Honda RC211V	Max Biaggi	16	1	9	1	3	217	3rd
2004	MotoGP	Camel Honda	Honda RC211V	Makoto Tamada	16	2	3	3	2	150	6th
2005	MotoGP	Camel Honda	Honda RC211V	Alex Barros	17	1	2	1	2	147	8th
				Troy Bayliss	11	0	0	0	0	54	15th
				Chris Vermeulen	2	0	0	0	0	10	21st
				Shane Byrne	2 (11)^[a]	0	0	0	0	5 (6)^[a]	24th
				Ryuichi Kiyonari	1	0	0	0	0	4	25th
				Tohru Ukawa	1 (2)^[a]	0	0	0	0	0 (1)^[a]	27th
2009	250cc	Pepe World Team	Aprilia RSA 250	Héctor Barberá	16	3	7	4	1	239	2nd
2009	250cc	Pepe World Team	Aprilia RSW 250 LE	Axel Pons	16	0	0	0	0	3	26th
2010	Moto2	Tenerife 40 Pons	Kalex Moto2	Sergio Gadea	17	0	1	0	0	67	17th
				Axel Pons	14	0	0	0	0	7	33rd
				Carmelo Morales	1 (3)^[a]	0	0	0	0	0	NC
				Damian Cudlin	1	0	0	0	0	9	31st
2011	Moto2	Pons HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Aleix Espargaró	17	0	1	0	0	76	12th
				Axel Pons	12	0	0	0	0	1	32nd
				Alex Baldolini	3 (14)^[a]	0	0	0	0	0 (18)^[a]	27th
2012	Moto2	Pons 40 HP Tuenti Tuenti Móvil HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Pol Espargaró	17	4	11	8	3	268	2nd
				Esteve Rabat	17	0	1	0	0	114	7th
				Axel Pons	17	0	0	0	0	10	25th
2013	Moto2	Tuenti HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Pol Espargaró	17	6	10	6	4	265	1st
				Esteve Rabat	17	3	7	2	3	216	3rd
				Axel Pons	17	0	0	0	0	6	25th
2014	Moto2	Pons HP 40 Paginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Luis Salom	18	0	2	0	1	85	8th
				Maverick Viñales	18	4	9	1	5	274	3rd
				Edgar Pons	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2015	Moto2	Paginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Luis Salom	17	0	0	0	0	80	13th
		Paginas Amarillas HP 40		Álex Rins	18	2	10	3	4	234	2nd
		Pons Racing Junior Team		Edgar Pons	3 (8)	0	0	0	0	0	NC
		Pons Racing Junior Team		Luca Marini	1	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2016	Moto2	Páginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Álex Rins	18	2	7	1	3	214	3rd
2016	Moto2	Páginas Amarillas HP 40	Kalex Moto2	Edgar Pons	14	0	0	0	0	4	31st
2017	Moto2	Pons HP40	Kalex Moto2	Fabio Quartararo	18	0	0	0	0	64	13th
2017	Moto2	Pons HP40	Kalex Moto2	Edgar Pons	18	0	0	0	0	2	34th
2018	Moto2	Pons HP40	Kalex Moto2	Lorenzo Baldassarri	19	1	5	2	3	162	5th
				Héctor Barberá	6	0	0	0	0	10	23rd
				Augusto Fernández	12	0	0	0	1	45	18th
2019	Moto2	Flexbox HP40	Kalex Moto2	Lorenzo Baldassarri	19	3	3	0	1	171	7th
				Augusto Fernández	17	3	5	1	3	207	5th
				Mattia Pasini	10 (11)	0	0	0	0	20	35th
	MotoE	Join Contract Pons 40	Energica Ego Corsa	Sete Gibernau	6	0	0	0	0	38	11th
2020	Moto2	Flexbox HP40	Kalex Moto2	Lorenzo Baldassarri	15	0	1	0	0	71	12th
	Moto2	Flexbox HP40	Kalex Moto2	Héctor Garzó	15	0	1	0	2	63	16th
	MotoE	Pons Racing 40	Energica Ego Corsa	Jordi Torres	7	1	4	2	1	114	1st
2021	Moto2	Flexbox HP40	Kalex Moto2	Héctor Garzó	16	0	0	0	0	16	23rd
				Stefano Manzi	18	0	0	0	0	36	19th
				Alonso López	1 (4)	0	0	0	0	4	30th
	MotoE	Pons Racing 40 HP Pons 40	Energica Ego Corsa	Jordi Torres	7	1	4	1	0	100	1st
	MotoE	Pons Racing 40 HP Pons 40	Energica Ego Corsa	Jasper Iwema	7	0	0	0	0	13	17th
2022	Moto2	Flexbox HP40	Kalex Moto2	Jorge Navarro	18	0	1	0	0	83	14th
				Arón Canet	19	0	8	3	2	200	3rd
				Borja Gómez	2	0	0	0	0	4	31st
	MotoE	Pons Racing 40	Energica Ego Corsa	Mattia Casadei	12	2	7	2	1	156	4th
				Jordi Torres	9	0	0	0	0	65	11th
				Massimo Roccoli	2	0	0	0	0	6	21st
2023	Moto2	Pons Wegow Los40	Kalex Moto2	Sergio García	20	0	0	0	0	84	15th
	Moto2	Pons Wegow Los40	Kalex Moto2	Arón Canet	20	0	7	3	0	195	5th
	MotoE	HP Pons Los40	Ducati V21L	Nicholas Spinelli	16	1	4	0	0	150	6th
	MotoE	HP Pons Los40	Ducati V21L	Mattia Casadei	16	5	10	2	4	260	1st

Notes

* Season still in progress.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Non-bracketed number refers to the number accumulated with team, with number in brackets referring to the total accumulated for the season.

Formula Renault 3.5 Series

Year	Team name	Drivers	Races	Podiums	F. laps	Points	Pos.
2013	Pons Racing	Zoël Amberg	17	0	0	8	24th
2013	Pons Racing	Nikolay Martsenko	17	0	0	20	20th
2014	Pons Racing	Oliver Webb	5	0	0	0	26th
		Meindert van Buuren	17	0	1	21	19th
		Óscar Tunjo	12	0	0	11	22nd
2015	Pons Racing	Philo Paz Armand	9	0	0	1	26th
		Roberto Merhi	8	1	0	26	14th
		Alex Fontana	1	0	0	2	24th
		Meindert van Buuren	2 (9)^[a]	0	0 (1)^[a]	0 (20)^[a]	15th
		Will Bratt	2	0	0	0	27th
		Yu Kanamaru	6	0	0	9	18th
		René Binder	2	0	0	4	22nd
		Nikita Zlobin	4	0	0	0	28th

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Non-bracketed number refers to the number accumulated with team, with number in brackets referring to the total accumulated for the season.

References

^ "PONS Racing closes a stage as Sito Pons faces a new era". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 26 August 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
^ Sports, Dorna. "Tohru Ukawa joins Honda Pons for the 2003 season | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
^ Sports, Dorna. "Camel Honda announce official line-up | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.
^ Sports, Dorna. "Pons pulls out of MotoGP | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.

External links

Official website

[Total-5] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Non-bracketed number refers to the number accumulated with team, with number in brackets referring to the total accumulated for the season.

[Total-6] Non-bracketed number refers to the number accumulated with team, with number in brackets referring to the total accumulated for the season.

[1] "PONS Racing closes a stage as Sito Pons faces a new era". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 26 August 2023. Retrieved 16 October 2023.

[2] Sports, Dorna. "Tohru Ukawa joins Honda Pons for the 2003 season | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-05.

[3] Sports, Dorna. "Camel Honda announce official line-up | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.

[4] Sports, Dorna. "Pons pulls out of MotoGP | MotoGP™". www.motogp.com. Retrieved 2023-04-03.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[a]

[a]