Sete Gibernau

He finished in 21st place, over a minute behind race winner Max Biaggi.

Gibernau finished 22nd in the championship with 20 points, 254 points behind the champion Max Biaggi and 248 points behind runner-up Ralf Waldmann.

At the Italian GP, he finished 24th and once again failed to score any points.

He participated as a wildcard rider for the Wayne Rainey Yamaha team and finished in 27th position.

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 two-time overall runner-up in and.

After trying many different bike categories, in particular those built by his uncle, Gibernau finally turned to road racing in 1990.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Gibernau started his full-time Grand Prix career in 1996, riding a Honda NSR250 for the Axo Honda team.

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.

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.

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.

At round four in Spain, Gibernau scored his first world championship points with an 11th-place finish.

At the British round however, Gibernau finished 11th for the second time this season to score points yet again.

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.

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.

Gibernau finished 13th in the championship with 56 points, 284 points behind the champion Mick Doohan and 141 points behind runner-up Tadayuki Okada.

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.

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, he 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.

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.

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.

Gibernau retired in two consecutive races—France and the Netherlands—before finishing in 19th place in Germany, once more outside of the points.