The Angel Nieto Team will contest the 2019 Moto3™ World Championship with a two-rider line-up of Albert Arenas and Raúl Fernández. The winner of the 2018 French Grand Prix and the current leader of the Junior Moto3™ World Championship will share a garage next season, with both riders on KTM machinery.
The partnership with the Austrian factory, which will be extended into Moto2™ in 2019, has already proven to be a successful one in just its first season. The team returned to the top step of the podium in 2018 with Arenas, a rider who is showing great progress and will continue his journey with the team as he looks to become a title contender in 2019.
Alongside Arenas will be current Junior Moto3™ World Championship leader Raul Fernandez. The Spaniard has two wins and four podiums to his credit this season and will look to confirm his potential with the Angel Nieto Team at Grand Prix level in 2019. The youngster has six GP appearances to his name already as a wildcard or replacement rider, with a best result of ninth place in Germany in 2018.
Albert Arenas: “I am really happy to sign up for another season in Moto3 with the Angel Nieto Team. The truth is that together we have taken our KTM to a good level, we are consistently fighting for the podium and we are competitive. Staying with the same team for another season has a lot of positives that will mean we are strong again. I am happy that I can now concentrate solely on the races that remain of this season, which are quite a few. I am going to keep giving my best and building on what I have learnt, in order to improve together and achieve our goals.”
Raúl Fernández: “I am very happy to announce that I will be moving up to the World Championship in 2019 with the Ángel Nieto Team, the team that has supported me and educated me throughout my career so far. This announcement takes a lot of pressure off because now all I have to think about is fighting for the FIM CEV Moto3 title. I am currently leading it and we will keep working as we have up to now, but with a little less weight on my shoulders. My future is in the World Championship and what better way to make that move than with the team that I am fighting with to become Junior Moto3 World Champion. I am happy to continue growing with this team, even though I know it won’t be easy and the first few rounds will be a case of adapting to the circuits, the bike and the level. I want to thank the team and everybody who has supported me in my career so far, especially my family, because I am going to be taking the step every rider hopes to take one day and hopefully I can be fighting to be a World Champion in the not too distant future.”