“I know I’m in some MotoGP plans”

Fresh from a long trip across Asia and the ocean where on October 16 he captured the Moto3 world crown at Phillip Island, Izan Guevara stopped on the way back to Palma de Mallorca in Barcelona where this Monday he visited the Mundo Deportivo newsroom. Since the motorcycle world championship has not set foot on Asian and oceanic soil since the pandemic and Izan is in his second Moto3 season, it was a new thing for him to spend five weeks away from home and although on October 16 he did of history as the fifth youngest champion, “There was already a desire after five weeks to be in Spain”. And on Saturday there will be a big party in Palma de Mallorca with institutional acts to celebrate his world crown, the third Mallorcan champion after Jorge Lorenzo and Joan Mir.

Have you ever had time to understand the phrase: Izan Guevara Moto3 world champion?

I’m slowly assimilating it, not completely yet, I think that when I arrive in Mallorca, in my house, with my friends and I think it will assimilate more.

Did the Phillip Island festival live up to the title?

What can be counted is the one that was watched on TV in turn 4 with my double Nico Terol and I didn’t know and I saw him there and I was very excited and the ones that can’t be counted. at night. It didn’t take long because in Australia they didn’t let us in and they let you out of the venues early, at two in the morning everything was closed, but the party at our house was over.

Since the preseason have you realized that you could be the world champion this 2022?

In the preseason I knew I could be in the fight, not that it would be easy, but I knew I could. When I realized I could win the title, when I went on vacation I was only three points behind Sergio (García Dols, his teammate) and that’s when I said to myself that we have to pick up where we left off – six in a row podium in Jerez to Assen- and we need to have a good end to the season and we have it. And in Misano I took the leadership of the world championship for the first time in my life.

How do you remember the Phillip Island weekend today? Is it decanting yes or no to the first amendment?

I arrived on Thursday a little nervous, I had several interviews there, and it was still difficult for me to assimilate the situation that I could win my first world title. But as the days went by it gradually calmed down, Sunday came and it was calm, but suddenly it rained before the race and luckily it dried up because suddenly and in a few minutes the week finally turned around, but we are lucky to be dry and may be dry, better for me. Ten minutes passed quickly on the grid and I continued to focus, the bike from the first moment was fine, and on the tenth lap the group split and that gave me a lot of peace of mind because out of the three only one could wait it’s Sergio García so he only needs to release a pilot. Every lap got better, I felt my body strong and I decided to lead the last lap until I got 4 tenths off second and as soon as I crossed the finish line I had a blank mind and screamed, this is it came out at that time, and some tears too.

For me there is a great moment in your season that is the outside of Oncu and García to win in Jerez

I remember it was a weekend that everything went perfect, we came from a difficult start to the season and we did everything, incredible solo qualifying and we went into the race with confidence. I went in with a very small chance on that last lap because I was third and normally you don’t catch two drivers in the last corner (laughs). And suddenly I saw that Oncu and Sergio were closing and I had no choice but to go outside to the inside, I only had a small win and I decided to do it and when I braked I was already at the height of the first one and I decided to release a little more brakes and that’s it when I went to get in suddenly I was ahead and I just went straight and full throttle to reach the finish line. This is the beginning of knowing that we can win races and the front group.

Your rivals say your title is more than it deserves. Is it important for a driver to receive that respect from rivals?

Man yes, getting the respect of all the riders is always important and it’s nice and all the MotoGP riders stopped to congratulate me and they were very grateful on my part and it was a very nice gesture.

Of the many congratulations you received on October 16 for your degree, which surprised you the most?

Márquez congratulated me, I have a very good relationship with him, but what surprised me was Carlos Sainz, the F1 driver, I didn’t expect it, I didn’t know him and I was excited. I think that day I received between 500 and 1000, my cellphone was blocked and everything, freaks out.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

What does Izan Guevara look like? How would you define yourself?

I’m kind, very open, before I was very shy and didn’t speak, I was very reserved, but when I interviewed I opened up a lot. In the team I joke with all day, I’m very smart. I am very stubborn and that is good and bad at the same time. Because sometimes you can’t get everything you want no matter how stubborn you are. I like to calculate and order everything, but for my things I am not so much. And on the bike I am calm, I want to control all the racing situations, when overtaking I usually think before acting so as not to try to throw another rider, I am a hard worker on the bike to work alone.

By the way, what do they give you as children in Mallorca because a small island gives the greatest champions worth knowing the secret

I don’t know, we settle for what we have. It is an island and we are reduced in space, but the riders have a circuit and in that circuit we sacrifice a lot, we have records that every time we go to training we try to lower them and if the two of us went down several times. thousandths and you had so much fun that you left it to others and you enjoyed it more.

Until now 2022 all dreams have come true, every championship in the last four years you have won the title. And now?

The truth is that everything happened very quickly, very quickly. 2019 we won the European Talent Cup, 2020 the Moto3 Junior World Championship, last year we climbed to the Moto3 World Championship, my first year as a rookie where Acosta dazzled and I fulfilled my goals of top-10 and once on the podium and we won a race in Austin. And this year it was for the World Cup and we achieved it.

Now that you’re part of those picks and you’re not watching them on TV from the sofa anymore, do you look up to the same role models you look up to or has your perspective changed now that you know them?

Now I’m looking at the Moto2 races because, after all, next year I’m going up to Moto2 and I visualize the races a little bit to see how it’s managed and all that, but in the end what’s really looking you are MotoGP, from first to last, they are the best and who else is Marc Márquez, the most buzz of the category now that he is back and he is my idol and I want to see him.

In 2016, the Aspar team had a Moto3 rider named Pecco Bagnaia who promised the team that if he won two races they would let him test his MotoGP Ducati. Have you ever made a similar bet?

No., the truth is we haven’t bet yet. There are people in my telemetry but they can’t be counted. There’s always jokes, shaving and stuff, but it’s never serious.

Who do you think has been key to your career?

First, my family, obviously without them I wouldn’t be where I am today, second is the team because I’m the only one who can’t make it, I need my people, my team who have worked hard all year. And those who are always by my side, my coaches, the one I trust in Mallorca, Pedro Ribas, who we have been working together for 8 years, pillar of my life, and the people who support me, public.

You have had offers to enter Moto2 from everyone and you want to be loyal to the Aspar Team where you have been with them since the junior team.

That continuity gives me a lot of peace of mind, it’s already been three years in the team and if it goes well, why not continue? We received offers, I think from everyone, but here I am very loyal because of the suits, helmets, sponsors and I will continue to keep the same kit next year, I will upload my moto3 technical team to moto2 with I. I am loyal to those who are loyal to me, to those who always believe in me.

Usually the MotoGP factories, when they find a diamond in the rough like you, are quick to reassure themselves about it. Have you had MotoGP offers?

I know I have some MotoGP plans, but I’m focused on me.

Who do you see yourself sharing a photo with at the end of the season in Cheste?

In Moto2 with Augusto (Fernández) who, after all, is a Majorcan, the year we had two Majorcans together, and in MotoGP I was not read, may the best man win. With both I have the same feeling, I get along very well with both. Yes, it’s true that Pecco is very difficult but it’s a race weekend and everything can go wrong. May the best win.

Legend has it that when you were little, when your parents took you to soccer school, you cried because you didn’t like it.

I was two and a half years old and they signed me up for soccer because my brother was already into soccer and they said, the little one too. But I stayed on the wall of the soccer field, so to speak, crying, kicking, like a naughty child and I just told dad ‘bruum, bruum’, asking for a motorcycle. And in the end, being heavy and stubborn, Reyes gave me a small electric motorcycle and that’s where it all started.

And now you don’t like football either?

Without further ado, let’s see if I ever want to play it. In Assen we were in a hotel with a soccer field and we got together five and five and we had a nice little game, that was cool. I know the results but without further ado, I don’t follow any of them, I only watch big games, I like Sevilla, I like Mallorca. My title coincided with the Clásico and I would have liked to watch, but at that time I was already partying to celebrate the title (laughs).