Biography – how it started

Jonas Folger

grew up surrounded by motorcycle parts and the whiff of oil in the workshop of his parents, both racing fanatic. On a family holiday to Italy Jonas got his first taste of the action on a 50cc Malaguti motocross bike that immediately was taken home to Germany. He was just three years old and by the following years he was tearing around the grounds of the family’s house.

When he turned six Jonas swapped his Malaguti for a KTM, also a 50cc bike, and took his first steps in racing aboard the Austrian machine. After two years competing in local events his parents received from the ADAC Südbayern an invitation for the youngster to attend a talent search on a karting circuit near Munich, where they would be selecting four kids to take part in the German mini-bike championship.

Jonas was selected and at the age of nine he lined up against the very best young racing talents in Germany over ten rounds on a 50cc mini-bike. He won every race, automatically earning himself the opportunity to defend his title the following season as well as being moved up to compete concurrently in the 65cc series. Once again he dominated in both categories and despite his young age his reputation began to spread as the bright new hope in German motorcycling.

In 2005 he finished

his mini-bike education with a third consecutive 50cc title, again adding the 65cc crown to his trophy cabinet. His talent was not going unnoticed and fellow compatriot Adi Stadler (HRC) made a call to renowned talent scout Alberto Puig. Soon after he was at Valencia to test a 125cc Honda and just one day on track was enough to convince Puig to sign him up to the MotoGP™ Academy – a youth development project designed to bring riders from all over the world through the Spanish Championship into Grand Prix racing.

In 2006 he contested his first season in the CEV and finished third on a 125cc Honda, with two second places at Jerez and a third at Valencia marking him out as a major new talent. In 2007 he ended the championship down in fifteenth but in 2008 preparations began in earnest for a World Championship future.

Jonas competed in national championships in Spain, France, Great Britain and Italy with the simple objective to gain knowledge of Grand Prix circuits. He also made six wildcard appearances in the 125cc World Championship, making his debut at the Czech Republic before competing in San Marino, where he scored in 15th position his first ever World championship point in his only second grand prix. Further starts at Indianapolis, Japan, Malaysia and Valencia to complete the season. In 2009 he contested his rookie season with Team Ongetta riding an Aprilia RSW and finished in a creditable twelfth place.

He remained with the Italian outfit

for 2010 but was entrusted with an Aprilia RSA. Unfortunately a series of mechanical setbacks led to a breakdown in his relationship with them and Jonas switched to Ajo MotorSport in 2011. After a positive first half of the season the youngster ran into a series of health issues and as a result from this fact his form suffered. He still managed to finish the championship in sixth place but his career continued to stutter at the start of 2012 after signing for MZ, where sponsorship problems saw him move to IodaRacing and even more complications.

After struggling through the most difficult part of his career so far from mid-2011 until the summer of 2012, Jonas re-launched his career with the MAPFRE Aspar Team in August 2012 with a stunning third place at Indianapolis in his first appearance already for the Spanish outfit and a sensational win in the following round at Brno.

At just nineteen years of age

he has a rare mixture of talent, potential and experience. Jonas has matured throughout the tribulations in the past. He startet with high expactation into the 2013 Season. However, due to his height and body weight he was always cleary in a disvantange compared to it’s competitors in the highly competitive Moto3™ category. A wrist injury last summer and then in September at the Misano race a broken ankle after a nasty highsider were also hard to expect further setbacks, although he finished the Championship in fifth place which is his best World Championship Position so far.

Right after the season’s finale at Valencia last November he jumped directly in his new adventure named Moto2™ World Championship. With his new outfit, the Spain based Argiñano & Gines Racing team, he will compete in the most competitive racing series on two wheels on this planet. The exceptional talent and thanks to his fighters attitude Jonas will soon make its way into this class. Summer 2014 Jonas has moved his current residence to Catalonia, where he finds perfect environment and conditions for his training in the area of Girona , near the pictusqare Costa Brava. His home in Upper Bavaria Schwindegg, where still his family lives, continues to be connected well.

To be continued...

Career Stats

2003....	50cc German Mini-Bike Championship, 1st
2004	50cc German Mini-Bike Championship, 1st, 65cc German Mini-Bike Championship, 1st
2005	50cc German Mini-Bike Championship, 1st, 65cc German Mini-Bike Championship, 1st
2006	125cc Spanish Championship, 3rd
2007	125cc Spanish Championship, 15th
2008	125cc Spanish Championship, 125cc World Championship wildcard – Czech Republic, San Marino, Indianapolis, Japan, Malaysia and Valencia, 34th overall
2009	125cc World Championship, 12th, “Rookie Of The Year”
2010	125cc World Championship, 14th
2011	125cc World Championship, 6th
2012	Moto3™ World Championship, 9th
2013	Moto3™ World Championship, 5th
2014	Moto2™ World Championship, 15th
2015	Moto2™ World Championship, 6th
2016	Moto2™ World Championship, 7th
2017	MotoGP™ World Championship, 10th
2019	Moto2™ World Championship (4 races)
2020	IDM Superbike 1000, 1st