After three years in the Aspar Team incubator, Joel Esteban will make his debut in the Moto3 World Championship at the age of 18. The young Spanish rider ensures that he is ready to successfully embrace this challenge.
‘It was the Aspar team that welcomed me and I am proud to be with them. It is a great project that is growing,’ Esteban began, before recalling how his passion for motorcycles was born.
‘There were many motorcycles in my parents’ bar. They had some friends with motorcycles and I would climb on them and start revving, I liked it a lot. When I was younger, I also went to Montmeló to watch the races and they bought me an electric motorcycle when I was two and a half years old,’ rewound the athlete in an interview he gave to Mundo Deportivo.
‘In 2021 I didn’t have a great year, but Nico Terol believed in me. He spent the whole season talking to my father, but he didn’t want to tell me anything. When it was confirmed, I was very happy and eager to work. In the first tests and races we started very strong. Nico helped me a lot with the track-related aspects. We were vice-champions in the European Talent Cup in 2022. It was a great year. Shortly after, we made the jump to the Moto3 JuniorGP championship and the truth is that I also adapted very quickly and in the second race, in Cheste, I was on the podium. In August, they told me that if everything went well, I would move up to the World Championship being a teammate of David Alonso. With Nico Terol’s experience, he can help me in everything and inspires me with maximum confidence’.
Esteban hopes to follow in the footsteps of David Alonso who last season, at just 17 years old, won four races and was the best rookie of the year.
‘At the moment, I don’t feel pressure for being in the first year and moving up a category with pressure is not good. In relation to David, I will have to learn because in 2023 he took a big step forward, that happened from the beginning and between the middle and the final straight, he put on a great show. They were truly great races. His way of working is very good and maybe that’s what I’m missing’, he emphasized.
‘It’s Marc Márquez who I identify with since I was little. His character, aggressiveness, and the way he dominates the bike. I love everything about him’.
