Coastal Azalea – Rhododendron atlanticum

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]

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

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

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

Points system from 1969 to 1987:

Points system from 1988 to 1991:

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

References

External links

• Pons Racing web site