Sete Gibernau

From WOI Encyclopedia Italia

Manuel Sete Gibernau Bulto (born December 15, 1972 in Barcelona) is a Spanish MotoGP road racer currently residing in Switzerland.

Gibernau is currently racing for the Ducati Marlboro team after leaving Telefonica Movistar Honda team at the end of the 2005 Season.

1 Biography
2 Personal life
3 External links

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Biography

Motorcycle racing was in Seté's blood - Gibernau's grandfather (Francisco Xavier "Paco" Bultó) founded the Bultaco motorcycle company after Montesa pulled out of Observed Trials in 1956. During Gibernau's youth, Bultaco was run by his uncle, Don Paco Bultó. After trying many different bike categories, in particular those built by his uncle, he finally turned to high-speed racing in 1996, when World Champion Wayne Rainey supported him in the Open Ducados competition, and ran for one year with a 250 Yamaha. He moved up to 500cc machines with the team for 1997, and in 1998 replaced injured Takuma Aoki on a two cylinder Honda. His breakthrough came when he replaced the injured Mick Doohan at Honda during 1999, helping him to 5th overall [1]

He failed to perform well for the team in 2000, and joined Suzuki for 2001, a season in which he took his maiden victory in the rain interrupted race at Valencia. 2002 proved to be a highly inauspicious year for both Gibernau and Suzuki in general with only Akira Ryo taking a podium at the season opening race in Suzuka. With mediocre results, few expected him to shine when he joined Fausto Gresini's Movistar Honda team for 2003.

Unfortunatley, his Japanese team-mate Daijiro Kato was killed in the season-opening race, and this tragedy seemed to inspire the notoriously temperamental and spiritual rider. With Kato's #74 on the bike alongside his traditional #15, Seté managed not only to win the next round in Welkom but also challenge Valentino Rossi for the championship. 2003 was arguably Gibernau's most consistent and surprising season, consistent because he managed to amass 277 points winning 4 races (including the coveted Dutch TT), the highest any of any rider not to win the championship and surprising because his excellent form had come from seemingly nowhere.

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2004 MotoGP season

There was much anticipation surrounding the 2004 championship as Valentino Rossi had made a highly controversial move to Yamaha and Gibernau's pre season and early season speed would indicate he was in perfect position to seize the title. Gibernau finished on the podium in the first 3 races, winning 2 of them and had gained the perfect start to 2004 with Rossi at times struggling to come to terms with his new bike. However a demoralising run of victories went Rossi's way after the French round and didn't abate until Rio de Janeiro where one of the two most surprising incidents of Gibernau and Rossi's rivalries occurred.

Both Gibernau and Rossi were level on points, and Gibernau had the edge on Rossi for most of the weekend. Despite Kenny Roberts Jr taking pole, Gibernau was showing formidable race speed. Despite a poor start Gibernau carved through the field passing his rivals and Rossi seemingly with ease - until he crashed out, losing the front into the second last turn. Rossi, seeking to capitalise, pushed harder but he too then crashed out on the very same corner as Gibernau only a few laps later. Gibernau again crashed out in Germany, this time Rossi stayed aboard but could only manage 4th, 13 points ahead of Gibernau in the championship. Rossi then put in a consistent run of podium finishes to take out the championship, despite Gibernau taking out both the Qatar and Czech rounds

At the 2004 Qatar race their previously good-natured rivalry spilled over, as Rossi accused Gibernau of pressuring officials to disqualify his qualifying result for allegedly later tampering with the track patch from which he started, to get better grip off an unusually dusty surface. Rossi reputedly put a curse on his rival, although this seems to be more of a press beat up, and Gibernau has not won a race since.

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2005 MotoGP season

Tensions between Gibernau and Rossi came to ahead at in the first race at Jerez in 2005. In the penultimate corner, Rossi push Gibernau wide on the penultimate corner of the race as Rossi - whether by plan or just through carrying too much spped and missing his braking zone. Rossi claimed victory while Gibernau recovered to claim second. Rossi endured the wrath of the Spanish crowd on the podium. Gibernau was unimpressed with Rossi's move but neither he nor the Gresini team lodged a formal protest. Meanwhile team-mate Marco Melandri finished ahead of Gibernau in the 2005 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season|2005 championship]]. But 2005 did bring some joy to Gibernau as he easily took out both BMW awards.

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2006 MotoGP season

Gibernau joined the Factory Ducati team following Carlos Checa's departure from the Italian marque for 2006. Gibernau showed prodigious speed with his new team for 2006 in pre season testing, but his bad luck seems to be continuing.

He retired from the opening race at Jerez after qualifying in 2nd place, due to electronics issues on his Ducati. Seté took some time to terms with the booming Ducati Desmosedici. He did have a run of point scoring finishes in the early races of the season, at times proved to be faster than his experienced team mate Loris Capirossi. He managed to silence his doubters by taking pole position at the Italian Grand Prix, ahead of home-town favourites, Capirossi and Rossi. He finished fifth in the race, despite completing the race with a bleeding left foot, after his left boot protector fell off during the race.

At the seventh round in Barcelona, Gibernau collided with his team mate, Loris Capirossi's machine while braking for the first corner, sending both riders, along with four others into the gravel trap in a dramatic crash. It was later confirmed that he had again broken his collar bone. It should also be noted that his bad luck continues - his ambulance hit a coach while entering the hospital [2]

He missed two races (Assen and Donnington Park) immediately after this crash, and a third (Brno) when an operation during the summer break did not heal quickly enough. His fitness improved and he managed a commendable 5th place at Sepang in Malaysia on Sunday September 10.

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Personal life

He is currently residing in Switzerland.

Well educated, he speaks fluent Catalan, Spanish, Italian and English, plus some French and German.

His hobbies include bicycling and water skiing.

Gibernau's girl friend is the Spanish supermodel Ester Cañadas. She is always supportive of Gibernau and often can be seen in the pit garage during races, cheering him on

Like most riders, he has his superstitions - he always puts his right boot on first.

He formerly rode with a number 15 good luck charm, but now rides with a charm given to him by his current girlfriend Ester. Unfortunately he has failed to win a race since changing his charm.

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