Alfonso Pons Ezquerra (Barcelona 9 November 1959), better known as Sito Pons, is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He studied Architecture at the university of Barcelona, He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1981 to 1991. Pons is notable for winning two consecutive 250cc road racing world championships in 1988 and 1989.[1]

Sito Pons
Pons on a Honda at the 1991 United States Grand Prix
NationalitySpanish
BornAlfonso Pons Ezquerra
(1959-11-09) 9 November 1959 (age 64)
Barcelona, Spain
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years19801991
First race1981 250cc Belgian Grand Prix
Last race1991 500cc Malaysian Grand Prix
First win1984 250cc Spanish Grand Prix
Last win1989 250cc Swedish Grand Prix
Team(s)Honda
Championships250cc – 1988, 1989
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
110 15 41 4 12 944

After retiring from competition, Pons created the Honda-Pons Racing team in MotoGP, which had as its riders the likes of Alex Criville, Carlos Checa, Joh Kocinski, Alberto Puig, Loris Capirossi, Alex Barros, Tohru Ukawa Max Biaggi and Troy Bayliss.[2] He was forced to disband the team before the 2006 season due to a lack of funding.

Pons also turned to auto racing, fielding a team in the World Series by Renault, which was mostly based in United Kingdom. His team won the 2004 championship with driver Heikki Kovalainen. Pons returned to motorcycle racing in the 2010 Moto2 championship, fielding riders Sergio Gadea and his son, Axel Pons. His team Pons Racing competed in Moto2 until 2023, having a number of riders like, Pol Espargaro,with whom win the championship in 2013; Aleix Espargaro, Tito Rabat, Maverick Viñales, Alex Rins, Luis Salom, Fabio Quartararo, Edgar Pons, Augusto Fernandez, Lorenzo Baldasarri, Hector Garzo,Aron Canet, Sergio Garcia. His team competed also in the MotoE category in MotoGP winning the championship in three seasons, with Jordi Torres, two times in 2020 and 2021 and with Mattia Casadei in 2023.

In 1990 he was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for his achievements in sports.[2]

Personal life

edit

Pons is the father of three sons,Axel, Edgar, and Lucas .[3]

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

edit

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1988 to 1991:

Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Points 20 17 15 13 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Points Rank Wins
1981 250cc Siroko-Rotax ARG
-
GER
-
NAT
-
FRA
-
ESP
-
NED
-
BEL
7
RSM
-
GBR
-
FIN
-
SWE
-
CZE
-
4 28th 0
1982 250cc KOBAS-Rotax FRA
-
ESP
-
NAT
-
NED
-
BEL
-
YUG
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
FIN
3
CZE
4
RSM
-
GER
-
18 15th 0
1983 250cc KOBAS-Rotax RSA
15
FRA
13
NAT
NC
GER
9
ESP
4
AUT
NC
YUG
-
NED
-
BEL
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
10 18th 0
1984 250cc KOBAS RSA
3
NAT
NC
ESP
1
AUT
3
GER
NC
FRA
NC
YUG
5
NED
15
BEL
2
GBR
6
SWE
9
RSM
5
66 4th 1
1985 500cc HB-Suzuki RSA
8
ESP
9
GER
9
NAT
NC
AUT
NC
YUG
11
NED
NC
BEL
15
FRA
7
GBR
NC
SWE
NC
RSM
11
11 13th 0
1986 250cc Campsa-Honda ESP
3
NAT
5
GER
NC
AUT
5
YUG
1
NED
3
BEL
1
FRA
2
GBR
3
SWE
2
RSM
2
108 2nd 2
1987 250cc Campsa-Honda JPN
2
ESP
9
GER
7
NAT
5
AUT
4
YUG
8
NED
3
FRA
4
GBR
7
SWE
NC
CZE
4
RSM
3
POR
5
BRA
2
ARG
1
108 3rd 1
1988 250cc Campsa-Honda JPN
2
USA
2
ESP
1
EXP
NC
NAT
2
GER
2
AUT
5
NED
6
BEL
1
YUG
1
FRA
2
GBR
4
SWE
1
CZE
2
BRA
3
231 1st 4
1989 250cc Campsa-Honda JPN
2
AUS
1
USA
4
ESP
2
NAT
1
GER
1
AUT
1
YUG
1
NED
2
BEL
2
FRA
3
GBR
1
SWE
1
CZE
4
BRA
4
262 1st 7
1990 500cc Campsa-Honda JPN
5
USA
NC
ESP
6
NAT
6
GER
5
AUT
6
YUG
NC
NED
-
BEL
-
FRA
-
GBR
-
SWE
-
CZE
7
HUN
10
AUS
7
76 10th 0
1991 500cc Campsa-Honda JPN
8
AUS
NC
USA
NC
ESP
-
ITA
-
GER
-
AUT
-
EUR
11
NED
10
FRA
9
GBR
NC
RSM
NC
CZE
9
VDM
9
MAL
NC
40 14th 0

References

edit
  1. ^ Sito Pons career statistics at MotoGP.com
  2. ^ a b www.ponsracing.com
  3. ^ "Edgar Pons y su salto a Moto2: "El apellido siempre pesa, pero el Mundial es mi sitio"". elconfidencial.com (in Spanish). El Confidencial. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
edit