Photo: motogp.com
The 2014 FIM Gala took place at the Villamarta theater in Jerez, Spain with an attendance of around 500 guests. The three 2014 World Champions have been handed their medals in a festive environment, and they received them from the hands of the recently-appointed FIM Legend Jorge Martinez “Aspar”.
The gala was hosted by Lisa Leyland and Gavin Emmett and seeing two brothers as World Champions in the same season was definitely one thing we’re not going to witness again soon. The three champions we’re talking about are Alex Marquez, Esteve “Tito” Rabat and Marc Marquez for the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP classes, respectively.
If you think this is a typo, you’re wrong, because Martinez did in fact win the world title of two categories in the same year. Even more, he went on to win two races in the same day in Brno in 1988, a feat still unique in motorsport.
His career comprised 37 GP wins, 61 podiums 42 poles and 11 fastest laps. Nowadays, Jorge Martinez is fielding teams in all the three GP classes, being one of the highly revered personalities still active in motorcycle racing.
Livio Suppo of Repsol Honda says: “My view was that this was a burden too heavy to carry. The level is really high and the time spent determining the settings is precious, so my idea was that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. What did he have to prove? It was good in Moto2? Everyone already knows this. There was even a risk to appear as an arrogant move. My advice was to abstain. But in the end, the decision belongs to the rider. If he wanted to race, he should tell us about this, so we could try to supplement our resources and make the necessary preparations.”
With Marquez never making the call to his team, we can figure out that he abandoned the idea (at least for now) or he quietly made the wiser choice to heed the advice of his team. Still, his career in the premier class is only beginning and we might see this happening one day in the future.
After all, the past saw John Surtees becoming a World Champion in GP racing and Formula 1. As for racing in two classes, we need not go back in time earlier than the magic year 1985, when “Fast” Freddie Specer won both the 250cc and 500cc titles. Is this even possible nowadays? We’ll delve into the matter with this week’s editorial.
Jorge Martinez’ record will still endure
We know that many of you are not aware why Jorge Martinez is such an important person in motorcycle road racing and why he is also the newest inductee as a FIM Legend. For starters, we’ll tell you that he is a 4-time World Champion, with 80cc titles in 1986, 1987 and 1988, and an 125cc title in 1988.If you think this is a typo, you’re wrong, because Martinez did in fact win the world title of two categories in the same year. Even more, he went on to win two races in the same day in Brno in 1988, a feat still unique in motorsport.
His career comprised 37 GP wins, 61 podiums 42 poles and 11 fastest laps. Nowadays, Jorge Martinez is fielding teams in all the three GP classes, being one of the highly revered personalities still active in motorcycle racing.
Vito Ippolito re-elected for the third time as FIM President
Vito Ippolito has been re-elected as FIM President for the third time, so motorcycle racing will be taken care under his “baton” for the next 4 years. He was of course, present at the FIM Gala, as the city of Jerez was also confirmed as World Capital of Motorcycling for 2015. The prize was collected by the Mayoress of Jerez, María José García-Pelayo.Marquez considered going dual-class
y in 2014, rumors had Marquez considering an entry in both Moto2 and MotoGP, but this did not happen. While his intentions were to try and race in both classes if the titles were already done for before the last round, it looks like his team also advised him to focus on the MotoGP efforts.Livio Suppo of Repsol Honda says: “My view was that this was a burden too heavy to carry. The level is really high and the time spent determining the settings is precious, so my idea was that he had nothing to gain and everything to lose. What did he have to prove? It was good in Moto2? Everyone already knows this. There was even a risk to appear as an arrogant move. My advice was to abstain. But in the end, the decision belongs to the rider. If he wanted to race, he should tell us about this, so we could try to supplement our resources and make the necessary preparations.”
With Marquez never making the call to his team, we can figure out that he abandoned the idea (at least for now) or he quietly made the wiser choice to heed the advice of his team. Still, his career in the premier class is only beginning and we might see this happening one day in the future.
After all, the past saw John Surtees becoming a World Champion in GP racing and Formula 1. As for racing in two classes, we need not go back in time earlier than the magic year 1985, when “Fast” Freddie Specer won both the 250cc and 500cc titles. Is this even possible nowadays? We’ll delve into the matter with this week’s editorial.
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