Scheibe Racing has signed veteran World Championship racer Héctor Barberá to race its BMW S1000RR Superbike in the 2021 MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Championship.
Asked how the deal came together, Scheibe Racing Team Owner Steve Scheibe told Roadracingworld.com, “He expressed interest in our program and he has outstanding credentials, so it seemed like a good fit.”
Scheibe Racing has seen ever improving results over the last two MotoAmerica Superbike seasons with Jake Gagne claiming two top-five race finishes and 8th in the 2019 Championship and Josh Herrin getting on the podium once and finishing in the top five 5 other times on his way to 6th in the 2020 Championship.
Scheibe Racing is now looking to 34-year-old Spaniard Barberá to continue that trend.
Barberá, then 16, won the 125cc Spanish Championship in 2002, the same year he made his 125cc World Championship debut at Suzuka.
In 2004, he won four races and finished runner-up in the 125cc World Championship.
From 2005 to 2009, Barberá raced in the 250cc World Championship, and in 2009 he was the World Championship runner-up thanks to three wins and five more podium finishes.
In 2010, Barberá moved up to the MotoGP World Championship, where he raced until 2017, starting a total of 139 races. He had several top-five race finishes in MotoGP with a best race result of 4th on an Avintia Racing Ducati at Sepang in 2016, when he placed 10th in the final Championship standings.
In 2018, he moved back to the Moto2 World Championship, where he only did the first six rounds and collected a best result of 11th at Le Mans.
The following season Barberá split time between the FIM Superbike and Supersport World Championships and the British Superbike Championship, earning a fourth-place finish on a Team Toth Yamaha YZF-R6 in the Supersport race at Phillip Island and a sixth on a Kawasaki ZX-10RR in British Superbike Race One at Donington Park.
Last season Barberá raced a BMW in the British Superbike Championship and finished 17th in the point standings with three top-10 finishes.
Barberá will make his MotoAmerica debut April 30-May 2 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.