The Balearic island of Majorca probably boasts more FIM motorcycle racing World Champions per square metre this year than anywhere else on the planet with sixteen-year-old Izan Guevara (KTM) joining his illustrious compatriot Joan Mir on the 2020 role of honour.
• All the 2020 FIM World champions
Guevara represents a whole new generation of racers who learned to ride on electric machines before graduating to petrol power and as a young boy he attended the Lorenzo Competición school run by Chicho Lorenzo, father of three-time MotoGP king Jorge. With his obvious and considerable talents carefully nurtured by the Balearic Motorcycling Federation, Guevara won a string of minimoto titles – his first when he was only seven years old – and benefited from Spain’s solid support structure for up-and-coming racers.
The winner of last year’s European Talent Cup, Guevara started his 2020 campaign with two solid if unspectacular finishes in Portugal, though once the series moved to Spain he came into his own. An eighth-place finish at the first of three consecutive rounds at Jerez at the end of August was followed by two wins and he then swept all three points-paying races at Aragon at the beginning of October.
With the season playing out with another triple-header – this time in Valencia – Guevara added another victory and two thirds to go with his fastest laps at the final five rounds to take the title by twelve points from early-season pace-setter Xavier Artigas (Honda).
PALMARES
FIM Moto3 Junior World Champion: 2020