Luis Salom · Biography

On 7 April 2013, at the Losail circuit, Luis Salom won the opening Moto3 race of that year’s World Championship after also taking pole position. It was the first of seven wins that season for Luis Jaime Salom Horrach, a rider born in Palma on 7 August 1991, nicknamed “el Mexicano” in the paddock and identified throughout his career with the number 39. He raced in the World Championship from 2009 to 2016, won nine Grands Prix in Moto3 and died on 3 June 2016 after a crash at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Early years in Majorca

A cousin of Superbike rider David Salom, he started racing at the age of eight and became Balearic 50cc Supermotard champion. In 2005 he moved up to 125cc machinery and won the Balearic title in that class in two consecutive years. Those results on the island’s tracks opened the way to national and international feeder series.

Red Bull Rookies Cup and the Spanish championship

In 2007 he made his debut in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and finished fourth, with a win at Assen and a second place at Jerez. That same year he contested his first full season in the CEV Buckler, the Spanish road racing championship, finishing seventh with a podium at Catalunya. In 2008 he was runner-up in both series. In the Rookies Cup he won four of the first five races, but retirements at the Sachsenring and Brno left him four points behind American J. D. Beach; in the CEV he finished second to Efrén Vázquez.

The 125cc years

His Grand Prix debut came in 2009 as a wildcard at the Spanish Grand Prix, where he was 23rd. He then joined the championship full-time on a WRB Aprilia, replacing Simone Corsi, and ended the year with 21 points and a sixth place at Donington as his best result. In 2010 he started with Lambretta, scoring the team’s only point of the season at Jerez, and finished the year with Stipa-Molenaar Racing, placing 12th with 72 points. In 2011, riding an Aprilia for RW Racing GP, he reached the podium for the first time with two second places, at Assen and Phillip Island, and finished eighth with 116 points.

Moto3 runner-up in 2012

The first season of the Moto3 class, in 2012, found him still with RW Racing GP, on KTM power. At the Indianapolis Grand Prix he took his first World Championship win, passing Sandro Cortese and Maverick Viñales on the final lap. He won again at Aragón and finished the championship in second place, with 214 points and eight podiums, behind Cortese.

Seven wins in 2013

For 2013 he signed for Red Bull KTM Ajo. As well as Qatar, he won at Mugello, Catalunya, Assen, Brno, Silverstone and Sepang, and led the overall standings from the Catalan Grand Prix onwards. At Indianapolis he broke a heel in a crash during practice and still finished fifth in the race. At Motegi he was caught up in a crash caused by Isaac Viñales and retired after a second fall. He arrived at the final round, in Valencia on 10 November, as championship leader, but crashed while running first; Maverick Viñales won the race and the title. Salom finished third with 302 points, twelve podiums and four poles, and was the rider with the most wins that year.

Three seasons in Moto2

In 2014 he stepped up to Moto2 with Pons Racing on a Kalex. He was third in Argentina and second at Mugello, but at the Catalan Grand Prix he broke his right arm in a collision with Jonas Folger; he ended the year eighth with 85 points. In 2015 he stayed with Pons and finished 13th with 80 points, without a podium. In 2016 he moved to the SAG Team, alongside Jesko Raffin, and opened the year with second place in Qatar.

The crash at Montmeló

On 3 June 2016, in the second Moto2 free practice session of the Catalan Grand Prix, Salom crashed with around 25 minutes remaining. His bike hit the barriers and bounced back, and the rider slid into its path. The session was red-flagged and he was taken to the Hospital General de Catalunya in Sant Cugat del Vallès, where he died during surgery. He was the first rider to lose his life in the World Championship since Marco Simoncelli at Sepang in 2011. Telemetry handed to MotoGP showed that he had braked about nine metres later than usual for turn 12 and hit an irregularity in the asphalt while still on the brakes. The races that weekend were held on the Formula 1 layout, which is slower through that section. At the 2016 FIM awards ceremony it was announced that the number 39 would be retired in Moto2.