Izan Guevara – From kid racer to Moto3 World Champion

Izan Guevara

2022 Moto3 World Champion

Seven victories, 11 podiums, two fastest laps and four pole positions add up to a championship title he had been dreaming of since he was just over two years old, when he first got on a motorbike.

Izan Guevara was born on 28 June 2004, in Mallorca. Motorcycles have always been part of his life. When he was a child, he used to attend football training sessions with his schoolmates, but he preferred to stay on the wall of the pitch, next to the motorcycles in the parking lot, watching them and imitating the sound of the engines.

So much so that, during the winter of 2006, his parents gave him his first motorcycle as a Christmas present and, from that moment on, a passion began to grow in him, that would lead him to become a professional rider. Izan felt really supported by his mother, Marga, and his father, Toni, with whom he remembers watching motorbike races and fantasising about becoming like Marc Márquez, his childhood idol and current reference. A rider with whom he shares certain aspects, both on the bike, in the way he races, his passion and his speed, and in the way he is, his extroverted character and his good humour.

When he was three years old, he began to practice this sport with his electric pocket bike and his parents enrolled him in a riders’ school in Mallorca. There, he began to take his first steps on the bike, he spent three years there and contested his first race, a race he remembers with great affection. “I was very happy and excited. I was accompanied by many friends and I enjoyed it a lot. It was also the first time I had raced outside Mallorca, in Valencia, and I was very excited“, he says.

At the age of six, little Izan joined the Balearic Federation school and began to compete in Minimotos, a category in which he achieved his first podium. Already as a child he was fighting for victory, whatever category he was in. His good results gave him access to scholarships that allowed him to continue practising the sport of his dreams.

The Mallorcan climbed up through the ranks, he got third place in the pocket bikes championship and, in 2012, at the age of 8, he started in the “Cuna de Campeones”. It was a stage that helped him a lot to continue his development as a rider and of which he has great memories. Izan moved up to the MiniGP 110 category and was fighting for the title with rivals with whom he still competes today, such as Dani Holgado, Pedro Acosta and Adrián Fernández. After a year of learning and loads of effort, he managed to win the title in 2014.

Thanks to the good results obtained in the lower categories, he was able to continue growing and advancing as a rider until, in 2019, he became the European Talent Cup champion after achieving six consecutive victories in the championship. His progress continued and the young rider began to prepare for the Moto3 Junior World Championship with Aspar Team.

The season did not start as he had hoped and he finished eighth and thirteenth in the two races in Portugal. But when he arrived in Jerez, where he had won the title the previous year, everything changed. A streak of eight consecutive podiums, five of them victories, some as special as the ones he achieved at Aragón starting from 22nd position, led him to win the Moto3 Junior World Championship title, a moment he remembers as the most special of his career so far.

The young rider’s enthusiasm was growing and, at the age of 16, he was presented with the opportunity to be a World Championship rider with the GASGAS Aspar Team in the Moto3 category. With the Valencian team, Guevara managed to finish the season in the top 10. Although the road was complicated at times, he always knew how to handle it well and complemented the hard moments with the good humour that goes always with him.

A new path began for the Spanish rider at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix. It was a path that started strongly with a seventh position after a race in which he was part of the leading group. Guevara continued to fight and improved race by race, scoring points at Jerez, Le Mans, Sachsenring and the Red Bull Ring. In England and Aragon he achieved his best result, both fourth positions that made him start to stand out. But the Grand Prix of the Americas held the best of the season for the young rider. It was there where Izan took his first victory in the Moto3 World Championship, in a race full of incidents, which showed the great progression of Guevara in his debut season. The final eighth place closed a year full of experiences and learnings that allowed him to finish with a clear work path for 2022. The best was yet to come.

2022 was meant to be his year. After a discreet eighth place in Qatar, in Indonesia, on an unknown track for him, he achieved his first podium of the year. The illusion of the first victory came two weeks later, in Argentina, but a mechanical problem forced him to retire when he had led eight of the first nine laps of the race.

Austin and Portimao allowed him to refocus on himself and his race pace and, at home, he inaugurated the beginning of a long streak of podium finishes with his first victory of the year. From that moment on, the Spaniard was on a string of podiums; France, Italy, Barcelona, Germany and Assen. His good results allowed him to move into second place in the title race, just three points behind his teammate.

However, in a twist worthy of the 2022 script, he crashed out in the next race, just like his teammate, and saw his advantage over the third-placed rider reduced from 64 to 39 points. The tension soon disappeared: at Misano he was back on the podium and, for the first time, he was the Moto3 leader. Victories in Aragon and Japan allowed him to build momentum and pull away from the rest of the chasing pack to arrive in Australia for the first time with a chance to clinch the title, the third of his career in four years.

Izan Guevera on his championship success

“It’s an incredible feeling. I am world champion after a fantastic race and an amazing season. I have been pushing as hard as I can during the race and in the end the dream has come true. I want to thank the team for all their support, my family and all my friends.”

When did you begin to think you could fight for the title?

“From the beginning of the year, I thought this could be a positive season. I didn’t imagine being at this level, but I was confident that I would be in the fight for the title until the end, until the race in Valencia. However, when I definitely thought that it was possible was in Aragon. After the Motorland race, the World Championship was within our reach and we all said: “it’s time to go for the title”. From then, we were able to keep the gap on my rivals and everything became easier.”

Which moment of the championship brings back the best memories for you?

“My best memory was when we got on the podium in six races in a row, and two of them were even victories. I will also remember the Sachsenring race because it was the first race where I managed to get away with a big gap, almost five seconds, and that is not easy to do in Moto3. I am proud that we did it and it is a memory that I will always carry with me.”

What moment would you delete?
What would you say was the most difficult moment?

“The beginning of the season was very hard. We had penalties in Qatar when we were on pole position, in Argentina our engine broke when I was leading, in Austin we were penalised for jumping the start…. But if I have to choose one, I think Silverstone was a very difficult moment. Sergio and I went into that Grand Prix with a considerable gap on Foggia, but in that race, we lost this distance.”

How important has your team been to you this season?

“Without them, this would not have been possible. At the end, we are all a team and that is our main strength. We have been an amazing group this year, we have kept together and this title is the reward for all the hard work put by the whole team during the season.”

What is the next step after winning the Moto3 Championship?

“The next step will be to take the leap into Moto2, but now I want to focus on enjoying this Moto3 title and next year we will be at our best in the intermediate category.”

How would you define yourself as a rider?
And as a person?

“I define myself as an aggressive rider when it’s the right moment, very competitive and a good braker. As a person I am always laughing and in a good mood. I like to joke around and hang out with people, but if I have to give myself a negative adjective, it’s that I’m very stubborn.”

Do you think the young Izan would be proud of what you’ve achieved?

“Without any doubt. If they had told me when I was a kid that I would be world champion I wouldn’t have believed it. My career has been as fast as difficult. At one point in my career, I came close to retiring because we didn’t have enough money. Luckily, we could continue competing and fighting for titles like this year.”

What is the most important thing you have learned this year?

“I think that being in the fight for a title makes you mature a lot. I have learnt to stay closer to the team, to be constant in my work, to know my strengths and weaknesses. In short, this year has helped us to improve mentally on the track and to manage adverse situations better.”

Who do you dedicate this victory to?

“The first thought goes to my family. They are the ones who have given me everything to make my dream come true. Without them by my side, it would not have been possible. Secondly, I would like to dedicate this title to my team for all the effort they have put in this season. In the end, all together we have achieved this well-deserved title.”

Izan Guevera – Bio

• Date of birth: 28/06/2004 – Palma de Mallorca – Spain
• First Grand Prix: 2021 Moto3 Qatar Grand Prix
• First Victory: 2021 Moto3 Grand Prix of the Americas
• Last Victory: 2022 Moto3 Australian Grand Prix
• First podium finish: 2021 Moto3 Grand Prix of the Americas
• Wins: 7
• Podiums: 12
• Fastest laps: 6
• Poles: 4
• Total number of GPs contested: 36

2022 Phillip Island Moto3 Race Results

Moto3 Championship Points Standings