Esteve “Tito” Rabat
Number: 80
Place of birth: Barcelona
Date of birth: 25/May/1989
Weight: 61Kg.
Height: 180cm.
Esteve Rabat made his first Grand Prix appearance as a wildcard in Valencia in the final race of 2005, finishing 24th, having risen to prominence via the Spanish national 125cc CEV championship, in which he finished 10th in 2005 and runner-up in 2006. It was originally intended that he would concentrate on his CEV campaign and make wildcard appearances in the three Grands Prix held in Spain, but Rabat was presented with greater World Championship opportunities when Aleix Espargaro moved up to 250cc midway through that year.
Rabat inherited Espargaro’s Honda and represented the team in the last 10 Grands Prix of the year, amounting a commendable 11 points along the way.
In the 2007 season he rode alongside young Briton Bradley Smith for Repsol Honda, and he stayed with the same team for 2008, albeit on KTM machinery. Rabat took his first podium at the Chinese round of the World Championship in 2007 and finished the season just outside the top ten, but he was unable to reach those heights again in 2008.
Ahead of the 2009 World Championship the Spanish youngster was recruited by Blusens Aprilia, returning to the team that first brought him to prominence.
He remained faithful with the team, stepping on the podium twice in 2010 for the Blusens-STX team, and in 2011 made the step up to Moto2 from the 125cc class, remaining with the same team.
The Spaniard faces 2012 at the controls of the Kalex Moto2 of the Pons Racing team, where he hopes to better his final 10th place ranking of 2011.
Source: motogp.com
