Manuel "Sete" Gibernau Bultó (born 15 December 1972) is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer who is a 9-time 500cc/MotoGP race winner and a twice overall runner-up in and . His racing career spans three different eras of motorcycle racing, beginning with the two-stroke-dominated period prior to the 2002 season, and the four-stroke MotoGP era. He returned to racing in 2019 to compete in the electric-powered MotoE World Cup. Gibernau was one of the top riders in Grand Prix racing at the beginning of the MotoGP era.
Career Early career Gibernau is the grandson of Francisco Xavier "Paco" Bultó, the founder of the Spanish Bultaco motorcycle company. He began his competitive careers in observed trials competitions. After trying many different bike categories, in particular those built by his uncle, Gibernau finally turned to road racing in 1990. In 1991 he won the Spanish Juniores 125cc Championship and in 1992 he competed in the Spanish 125cc Gilera Cup championship and entered into his first Grand Prix race at the 1992 250cc Spanish Grand Prix.
250cc World Championship Yamaha (1992–1994) 1992 In 1992, Gibernau participated in his first-ever Grand Prix motorcycle race. In the 250cc class, he participated in the fourth round of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix. He participated as a wildcard rider for the Wayne Rainey Yamaha team and finished in 27th position.
1993 In 1993, Gibernau participated in another race, this time at the last race of the season at the FIM round in Jarama, this time riding for the Kenny Roberts Yamaha team. He failed to finish the race.
1994 In 1994, Gibernau would once again participate in a one-off race, and it would once more be the last round of the season, this time at the European Grand Prix in Catalunya, riding once more for the Kenny Roberts Yamaha team. He finished in 21st place, over a minute behind race winner Max Biaggi.
Honda (1995–1996) 1995 In 1995, Gibernau once again participated in a one-off race at the same venue as last year, the European Grand Prix in Catalunya. This time he rode for the Honda Pons team, run by Spanish former world champion Sito Pons. He would not finish the race.
Return to Yamaha (1996) 1996 Gibernau started his full-time Grand Prix career in 1996, riding a Honda NSR250 for the Axo Honda team. He retired at the opening round in Malaysia, and failed to score any points in the following two races in Indonesia and Japan, finishing 17th and 20th.
At round four in Spain, Gibernau scored his first world championship points with an 11th-place finish. At the Italian GP, he finished 24th and once again failed to score any points.
Gibernau retired in two consecutive races—France and the Netherlands—before finishing in 19th place in Germany, once more outside of the points. At the British round however, Gibernau finished 11th for the second time this season to score points yet again. In Austria, his 18th-place finish meant he finished outside the points yet again, but he recovered well by scoring points for the third time in his rookie season by finishing 14th at the Czech Republic race. In Imola, he finished outside of the points with an 18th-place finish.
With three races left to go, Gibernau was hired by former world champion Wayne Rainey's Yamaha team to replace Tetsuya Harada. He retired from the Catalan round, but finished in eighth place at the penultimate round of the season in Brazil—his highest classification of the season. At the final race in Australia, Gibernau retired for the fifth time this season.
Gibernau finished 22nd in the championship with 20 points, 254 points behind the champion Max Biaggi and 248 points behind runner-up Ralf Waldmann.
500cc World Championship Yamaha (1997) 1997 After a rollercoaster rookie season in 1996, Gibernau moved up to the 500cc class with the official Team Rainey team for the 1997 season.
In his first ever 500cc race, Gibernau finished in ninth place at the Malaysian round. In Japan, he recorded his first retirement, but bounced back well to score two consecutive ninth-place finishes in Spain and Italy.
At the Austrian race, Gibernau retired for the second time this season. In France, he finished 13th but a 19th-place finish at the next round in the Netherlands meant that he failed to score any points. After Assen, Gibernau went back to scoring points by finishing in 11th at Imola and seventh in Germany—his then highest finish of the year, as well as his career.
The good fortunes would end after the German round for Gibernau, with four consecutive retirements at the Rio de Janeiro, British, Czech Republic and Catalan grands prix. However, he finished the season on a high note by finishing the last two races of the season in the points, by taking eighth in Indonesia and sixth in Australia, beating his best-ever performance in Germany earlier in the season.
Gibernau finished 13th in the championship with 56 points, 284 points behind the champion Mick Doohan and 141 points behind runner-up Tadayuki Okada.
Honda (1998–2000) 1998 With a good performance in 1997, Gibernau was brought to Honda to replace the unfortunate Takuma Aoki, who became paralysed below the waist after a crash in winter testing, on the privateer Honda NSR500V v-twin motorcycle.
Gibernau started the season off well by finishing in tenth at the opening round in Japan. In Malaysia however, he would retire from the race after an accident, before finishing in the points for the next three races: 12th in Spain, 14th in Italy and 10th in France.
At round six of the season in Madrid, ridden on the Jarama circuit, Gibernau took his first ever podium spot. Despite his bike lacking the power of the four cylinder bikes used by the factory Honda team, he still managed to score a podium place in the form of third place, after fighting hard with Norifumi Abe and fellow Spaniard Carlos Checa, who went on to win the race.
After finishing third in Jarama, Gibernau retired in the next three races held in the Netherlands, Great Britain and Germany, but recovered well and finished inside the top ten at the next three consecutive races—sixth in the Czech Republic, eighth in Imola and fourth in Catalunya. At the penultimate round of the season in Australia, Gibernau would crash out of the race after just two laps and finished the last race of the season in Argentina in ninth.
Gibernau finished 11th in the championship with 72 points, 188 points behind the champion Mick Doohan and 136 points behind runner-up Max Biaggi. Gibernau also teamed up with fellow Honda rider Alex Barros to finish second in the prestigious Suzuka 8 Hours endurance race held in Japan.
1999
In 1999, Gibernau remained with the Repsol Honda team and started off on the Honda NSR500V.
At the opening round in Malaysia, Gibernau would start his season off in good form by finishing tenth at the new Sepang circuit. At the next race in Japan, he improved his result, finishing in fifth place.
When five-time 500cc world champion Mick Doohan broke his leg in several places, but also his collarbone and wrist when he crashed during a very wet qualifying session at the Spanish Grand Prix. Gibernau replaced him from this round onwards when Doohan subsequently announced his retirement.
Now competing with the top-tier Honda NSR500 four cylinder race bike, he took full advantage and immediately scored his first third-place podium at only his third round of the season in Spain. He continued this good run by finishing just off the podium in fourth at the next round in France and sixth in Italy.
Gibernau continued to impress when he took his first ever fastest lap and scored his second podium of the season in Catalunya and then repeated the feat at the next round in the Netherlands, finishing both races in third position and making this his first ever back-to-back podium finish streak. After his great run of results, Gibernau did not participate in the British round.
After his DNS in Donington Park, Gibernau scored another consistent set of points in the following five races—ninth in Germany, tenth in the Czech Republic and Imola, ninth again in Valencia and sixth in Australia. Sixth was also the time Gibernau qualified at the Phillip Island circuit on Saturday.
Gibernau's best result of the season came at the inaugural South African race. On Saturday, Gibernau qualified within the top five by finishing fourth and third in the first and second qualifying sessions. On Sunday, he rode a strong race to finish ahead of championship contenders Àlex Crivillé and Tadayuki Okada and finish in second place behind race winner Max Biaggi. He also picked up his-second fastest lap of his career.
After finishing second at Welkom, Gibernau qualified in second on Saturday at the penultimate round in Rio de Janeiro. On Sunday, he struggled and lost to Biaggi, title contender Kenny Roberts Jr. and Alex Barros to finish fifth. At the final round of the season in Argentina, Gibernau qualified outside of the top ten on Saturday but recovered well to finish sixth on Sunday.
Gibernau finished fifth in the championship with 165 points, 102 points behind the champion and Repsol Honda teammate Àlex Crivillé and 55 points behind runner-up Kenny Roberts Jr.
2000 After a strong 1999 season, expectations for Gibernau to perform better were high in 2000.
Initially, he started off well when he took his first ever pole position at the season opener in South Africa on Saturday, beating 1999 runner-up Kenny Roberts Jr. and champion and fellow Repsol Honda teammate Àlex Crivillé in the process. However, Gibernau would retire from the race on Sunday which was won by the Australian Garry McCoy. In Malaysia, Gibernau would perform better. He qualified outside of the top 10 on Saturday but bounced back on Sunday to finish in a respectable seventh position, scoring his first points of the year.
However, bad luck would continue to plague Gibernau at the next two rounds. He crashed out of the Japanese GP and did the same in Spain. This was his first back-to-back double DNF since 1998. After the bad results in Suzuka and Jerez, Gibernau went on to score points again at the French and Italian rounds when he finished 15th and 10th.
At round seven in Catalunya, Gibernau retired for the fourth consecutive time this season. On Saturday, in tenth position, he barely qualified. but would crash out of the race once again on Sunday on a wet and slippery track. At the next four races, things would improve for Gibernau. He finished seventh in the Netherlands, eighth in Great Britain and Germany and sixth in the Czech Republic.
At the inaugural GP in Portugal, Gibernau retired for the fifth time this season when he crashed out of the race. In the next three races, Gibernau would again bounce back from bad fortunes. At the Valencian Community round, he qualified ninth on Saturday and finished eighth on Sunday. In Rio de Janeiro, Gibernau finished seventh and at the inaugural Pacific Grand Prix, he finished 12th. At the final round of the season—the Australian race—Gibernau retired for the sixth time this season when he stopped in the pits.
Gibernau finished 15th in the championship with 72 points, 186 points behind the champion Kenny Roberts Jr. and 137 points behind runner-up Valentino Rossi.
After the disappointing and struggling season Gibernau had in 2000, the Repsol Honda team decided to drop both Tadayuki Okada and him, to which he signed with the factory Suzuki MotoGP team for the 2001 season, replacing Nobuatsu Aoki.
Suzuki (2001) 2001 After his switch from Honda to Suzuki, Gibernau continued to struggle with the underperforming RGV500 machine compared to the stronger Honda and Yamaha bikes.