Xavi Vierge

Xavier Vierge Zafra (born 30 April 1997) is a Spanish motorcycle racer, contracted to race for Honda Racing Corporation in the 2022 Superbike World Championship.^[1]

Xavi Vierge
Vierge in 2019
Nationality	Spanish
Born	(1997-04-30) 30 April 1997 (age 27) Barcelona, Spain
Current team	Team HRC
Bike number	97
Motorcycle racing career statistics Moto2 World Championship Active years 2015–2021 Manufacturers Tech 3, Kalex Championships 0 2021 championship position 11th (93 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 110 0 4 3 2 519 Superbike World Championship Active years 2022– Manufacturers Honda Championships 0 2023 championship position 10th (149 pts) Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points 72 0 1 0 0 313

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Vierge and the second or maternal family name is Zafra.

Career

Early career

 

Vierge in 2015

Born in Barcelona, Vierge was the 2015 FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship runner-up, winning six races, finishing in second three times, and in third place once, out of the eleven races that year.

Moto2 World Championship

Tech 3 Racing (2015–2017)

In the same year, he made his debut in the 2015 Moto2 World Championship as the permanent replacement for Ricard Cardús in the Tech3 team from the tenth round of the season onwards,^[2] but failed to score any championship points.

He was retained by the team for the 2016 Moto2 season, where he scored his first Grand Prix points in Argentina and achieved a best result of 8th in Sepang. At the end of the season he collected 37 points, and was awarded the Moto2 Rookie of the Year prize, winning it by one point over Miguel Oliveira.^[3]

He stayed with the Tech3 team for the 2017 season, this time partnered by Australian Remy Gardner. At the Italian Grand Prix, Vierge was forced to sit out of the race due to a thoracic trauma following a crash in qualifying. In Assen, Vierge suffered a broken arm in free practice and was again forced to sit out the event. He also had to sit out the next round at Sachsenring and was replaced by Héctor Garzó. At Motegi, Vierge claimed his first podium finish in the championship with a second-place finish. He ended the season 11th in the standings, with 98 points.

Dynavolt Intact GP (2018)

On 5 August 2017, it was announced that Vierge would join Dynavolt Intact GP for the 2018 season, partnering Marcel Schrötter, who was also his teammate at Tech3 in the second half of 2015. He took his first pole at Argentina, and finished the race in second place. At Austria, he had a nasty crash in qualifying after a coming together with Steven Odendaal, causing him to miss the race and the next weekend at Silverstone. He would grab a podium with his third-place finish at Phillip Island, and finish the season in 11th again, with 131 points.

EG 0,0 Marc VDS (2019)

On 22 August 2018, it was confirmed that Vierge would sign for EG 0,0 Marc VDS for the 2019 season, partnering Álex Márquez, the younger brother of Marc Márquez. Vierge replaced Joan Mir, who moved up to MotoGP with Suzuki. His place at Dynavolt Intact GP was taken by Thomas Lüthi, who returned to Moto2 after one season in the premier class. In the opening race in Qatar, also the first race with the new Triumph 765cc triple engines, Vierge qualified in second, took the lead at the start, but then fell back to tenth place by the end of the race. In the next race in Argentina, Vierge took pole position for the second consecutive season, however a problem on the warm-up lap meant he could not start the race. His bad luck continued at Austin, when he was involved in a first-lap crash at turn one along with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Joe Roberts. His unlucky season continued throughout the whole year, his best result being a 4th-place finish, and Vierge only finished 13th in the standings, collecting 81 points.

Petronas Sprinta Racing (2020–2021)

After a disappointing 2019, Vierge moved on to the Sepang Racing Team for the 2020 season, partnering with Jake Dixon. Vierge once again had an underwhelming season, with no podium finishes, a 4th place being his best in Rimini, and one pole position, which he achieved at Catalunya. He finished the season 10th in the standings with 79 points, but 35 points ahead of Dixon.

Vierge stayed with Sepang Racing Team for the 2021 season, once again partnering Jake Dixon. He had one podium finish during the season, a 3rd place from Catalunya, and finished 11th in the standings again, with 93 points.

Superbike World Championship

In September, Vierge and Honda announced that he would be competing in the Superbike World Championship for 2022, replacing Leon Haslam.^[4] He will be partnered by fellow MotoGP outcast Iker Lecuona, on the factory Honda ride.^[5]

Career statistics

FIM CEV Moto3 Junior World Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Pos	Pts
2012	Honda	JER Ret	NAV 10	ARA 13	CAT 12	ALB1 5	ALB2 9	VAL Ret			15th	31
2013	Honda	CAT1 Ret	CAT2 12	ARA Ret	ALB1 Ret	ALB2 15	NAV Ret	VAL1 12	VAL2 Ret	JER 17	27th	9

FIM CEV Moto2 European Championship

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Pos	Pts
2014	Tech 3	JER Ret	ARA1 Ret	ARA2 3	CAT Ret	ALB 3	NAV1 1	NAV2 3	ALG1 2	ALG2 9	VAL 5		4th	111^[6]
2015	Tech 3	ALG1 2	ALG2 1	CAT Ret	ARA1 3	ARA2 2	ALB 1	NAV1 1	NAV2 2	JER 1	VAL1 1	VAL2 1	2nd	226

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2015	Moto2	Tech 3	Tech 3	9	0	0	0	0	0	NC
2016	Moto2	Tech 3	Tech 3 Racing	18	0	0	0	0	37	20th
2017	Moto2	Tech 3	Tech 3 Racing	15	0	1	0	0	98	11th
2018	Moto2	Kalex	Dynavolt Intact GP	17	0	2	1	2	131	11th
2019	Moto2	Kalex	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	18	0	0	1	0	81	13th
2020	Moto2	Kalex	Petronas Sprinta Racing	15	0	0	1	0	79	10th
2021	Moto2	Kalex	Petronas Sprinta Racing	18	0	1	0	0	93	11th
Total				110	0	4	3	2	519

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto2	2015–2021	2015 Indianapolis	2017 Japan		110	0	4	3	2	519	0
Total	2015–2021				110	0	4	3	2	519	0

Races by year

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

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Pos	Pts
2015	Moto2	Tech 3	QAT	AME	ARG	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GER	INP Ret	CZE Ret	GBR 22	RSM 23	ARA 16	JPN Ret	AUS 19	MAL 22	VAL 17		NC	0
2016	Moto2	Tech 3	QAT Ret	ARG 14	AME 20	SPA Ret	FRA 15	ITA Ret	CAT 20	NED 17	GER Ret	AUT 16	CZE 12	GBR 13	RSM 12	ARA 17	JPN 11	AUS 10	MAL 8	VAL 12		20th	37
2017	Moto2	Tech 3	QAT 9	ARG 5	AME 9	SPA Ret	FRA 9	ITA DNS	CAT 8	NED DNS	GER	CZE 5	AUT Ret	GBR 12	RSM 14	ARA 14	JPN 2	AUS 5	MAL 8	VAL Ret		11th	98
2018	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 8	ARG 2	AME Ret	SPA 4	FRA 5	ITA 9	CAT 5	NED Ret	GER 7	CZE 5	AUT DNS	GBR C	RSM 10	ARA Ret	THA 11	JPN 7	AUS 3	MAL 11	VAL Ret	11th	131
2019	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 10	ARG DNS	AME Ret	SPA 6	FRA 5	ITA 12	CAT 8	NED Ret	GER Ret	CZE 24	AUT Ret	GBR 10	RSM 8	ARA 10	THA Ret	JPN Ret	AUS Ret	MAL 4	VAL 7	13th	81
2020	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 9	SPA 10	ANC 8	CZE 12	AUT 5	STY 6	RSM 4	EMI Ret	CAT Ret	FRA Ret	ARA 16	TER 12	EUR 9	VAL 13	POR 10					10th	79
2021	Moto2	Kalex	QAT Ret	DOH 9	POR 7	SPA 6	FRA Ret	ITA Ret	CAT 3	GER Ret	NED 8	STY 9	AUT 14	GBR 8	ARA Ret	RSM 8	AME 8	EMI Ret	ALR Ret	VAL 6		11th	93

Superbike World Championship

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Number	Race	Win	Podium	Pole	FLap	Pts	Plcd
2022	SBK	Honda CBR1000RR-R	Team HRC	97	36	0	0	0	0	164	10th
2023	SBK	Honda CBR1000RR-R	Team HRC	97	36	0	1	0	0	149	10th
Total					72	0	1	0	0	313

Races by year

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

Year	Bike	1			2			3			4			5			6			7			8			9			10			11			12			Pos	Pts
		R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2	R1	SR	R2
2022	Honda	SPA 7	SPA 9	SPA 8	NED 11	NED 12	NED 9	POR 5	POR Ret	POR 9	ITA 7	ITA 4	ITA Ret	GBR 13	GBR 15	GBR 13	CZE 15	CZE 10	CZE 7	FRA 13	FRA Ret	FRA Ret	SPA 12	SPA 7	SPA 6	POR 8	POR 10	POR 8	ARG 9	ARG 8	ARG 6	INA 6	INA 9	INA 7	AUS 8	AUS 8	AUS Ret	10th	164
2023	Honda	AUS 7	AUS 12	AUS 11	INA 7	INA 6	INA 3	NED 11	NED 9	NED Ret	SPA 8	SPA 9	SPA 6	ITA 10	ITA 8	ITA 5	GBR 11	GBR 14	GBR Ret	ITA 12	ITA 19	ITA 14	CZE 17	CZE Ret	CZE 9	FRA 12	FRA 9	FRA 9	SPA 12	SPA 7	SPA 8	POR 10	POR 9	POR 15	SPA 10	SPA 11	SPA 13	10th	149

^* Season still in progress.

References

1. "World Superbike: Honda signs Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge".
2. "Moto2: Cardus out, Vierge in at Tech 3". Crash.net. Crash Media Group. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
3. "Goodbye 2016: FIM Awards Ceremony closes the MotoGP season". MotoGP.com. Dorna Sports. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
4. "World Superbike: Xavi Vierge set to join Honda in 2022". www.motorsport.com.
5. Barstow, Ollie (26 October 2021). "Honda confirms Iker Lecuona, Xavi Vierge for 2022 WorldSBK tilt". Visordown.
6. "Standings". fimcevrepsol.com. Retrieved 19 November 2016.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xavi Vierge.

• Xavi Vierge at MotoGP.com 
• Xavi Vierge at WorldSBK.com 
• Xavi Vierge at AS.com (in Spanish)