Aspar is to be renamed as the 'Angel Nieto Team' in tribute to the late '12+1' world champion, a for🐼mer rival and mentor of Jorge Martinez 'Aspar'.

In additi📖on, Angel's son Gelete will&nbඣsp;join as team principal for 2018.

Aspar's racing activities extend from the Spanish Champio𒆙nship and Moto3 Junior World Championship, to the Moto3 and MotoGP World Championships♛.

“Ángel Nieto is synonymous with motorcycle racing, a sport that gave him so much and to which he gave so much in return. Motorcycle racing is what it is in Spain thanks to the man who laid the first stone and we want to pay homage to that fact by renaming our team the Ánge🦂l Nieto Team,” explained Jorge Martinez 'Aspar', a four-time world champion as a rider, who has overseen a further four world titles as a team boss since hanging up his leathers in 1997.

“You would always learn so much from being alongside him. Ángel helped so many people, me amongst others, and he was an important part of my life, as are his sons Gelete and Pablo [now team manager of Sky Racing VR46] and his nephew Fonsi [now rider coach at Pramac Ducati༺🥀].

"Ángel was parಞticularly excited about this whole project. He trusted me to give Gelete his start in racing and he told me, 'I know that with you he will learn'. To be able to pay tribute to his memory and continue with this project in the hands of his eldest son, who was one of the first to ride for my team, gives me enormous p𓄧ride.”

Gelete Nieto competed with Aspar fromౠ 1993 to 1997, picking up a European Championship victory in Barcelona and another inඣ the Spanish Championship at Jerez, as well as making 28 Grand Prix appearances.

Gelete was the first of the Nieto family to race for Aspar, soo꧟n followed by his brother Pablo and cousin Fonsi.

Standout moments included Pablo's victory in the Grand Prix of Portugal in 2003 and Fonsi's 250cc World Cha꧟mpionship runner-up season in 2002.

Aspar added that Ángel Nieto “was the reason why so many Spaniards, including myself, his sons and so many others, wanted 💮to dedicate our lives to racing and became champions o🔯f our passion.

"Thanks to him, we have the best fans 💦in the world. Ángel will live forever, he will never leave our hearts and with this gesture he will be ꦕeven more in our minds, if that were possible, as we continue to produce champions and keep the flame of our passion for this sport alive.”

Aspar will run Alvaro Bautista and Ka🦋rel Abraham on Ducati machinery in MotoGP next season, plus Andrea Migno and Albert Arena꧋s on KTMs in the Moto3 World Championship.

Bautista 𓄧is one of the Aspar Team's💯 four (125cc) world champions alongside Gabor Talmacsi, Julian Simon and Nico Terol.