Dani Ruiz returns to home track as wildcard rider at Spanish Grand Prix

Dani Ruiz returned to the circuit which provided him with one of the greatest joys of his career, the victory in the Red Bull Rookies Cup in the Grand Prix of Spain in 2010, but this time competing in one of the most hotly contested categories of the world championship, in the 125cc class. His brilliant performances in the last three rounds of the 2010 Spanish Championship gave him the opportunity to get an invitation to participate in Jerez as “wild card” or guest rider.
Both his new sponsors (Circuito de Navarra, Fundación Miguel Indurain, Ayuntamiento del Valle de Aranguren, Grupo Iruña) and his team, Honda Larresport from Tarragona, have received this invitation with a lot of enthusiasm, and it comes as an addition to his participation in the Spanish Championship this season and the European championship.

With a much improved Honda RS125 compared to last year Dani arrived at the Spanish GP highly motivated and eager to measure himself against his old rivals who already made the move to the world championship and prove that he also belongs there.

The first day of practice ended with a bittersweet, because despite significantly improving his laptime every time he went out, the strong wind was the main protagonist of the second session and Dani had a crash halfway through, fortunately without consequences, which kept him from getting back out on track before the end of the practice.

Dani Ruiz: “I’m very happy with the performance of the bike and the team, every time I went out I was more relaxed and less nervous about my debut in the world championship. The crash was a shame because it stopped my progression, but tomorrow I hope to further improve my spot on the grid as far as possible. I want to thank my team and all my sponsors for this opportunity which I will not forget all my life.”

Photo by David Clares