The officially named FIM CEV Repsol Junior Moto3 World Championship has been the hall of the Grand Prix for many years. Organized by Dorna, it was natural that it would be the main supplier of Grand Prix drivers, even if Italy, and to a lesser extent, France, still successfully resisted this Spanish hegemony.
Last year, the CGBM Evolution structure, which aligns the CarXpert Interwetten and Garage Plus Interwetten teams in Moto2, set up a sort of laboratory in the same CEV category to run Iker Lecuona: the driver was under contract with CGBM Evolution and 3 members of CGBM Evolution traveled on the circuits, in partnership with the Race Experience structure of Sébastien Gimbert.
The rest is known, and after a few wild cards, Iker Lecuona was started in the Grand Prix for this 2017 season (see his interview here).
CGBM therefore decided to repeat the experience, but in Moto3 this time, by fielding the young Andy Verdoïa in Moto3 on an ex-Ajo KTM.
Aged 14, the young man from Nice took his first spin on a Yamaha PW before starting his career with hill climbs and regional circuits until the age of seven. At the start of the following year, the Niçois obtained an exemption to participate in the Conti courses, during which he learned to shift gears in just two sessions!
Given this precocity, his parents decided to order him the motorcycle with which he would finish vice-champion of France for his first participation. The pilot is then invited to the traditional FFM awards ceremony during which he can meet the elite of French pilots, a great memory for him, and the first opportunity to meet Sébastien Gimbert.
Things then came together and he took part in the Catalan 50cc championship in which he finished eleventh having missed four races, after having achieved promising performances. The logical continuation took him to 70cc in 2012 aboard an RMU which he took to fourth position in the final ranking, among the best European hopes.
Andy quickly tires of karting circuits and dreams of putting his wheels on the same circuits as his idols. This has been done since 2013 since he moved to “big wheels” in the RMU factory team in 80cc before becoming Spanish Moto4 champion the following year on a BMS.
At the age of 13, he did not hesitate to relocate to Spain to take advantage of the facilities provided by KSB Sport Elite, a sort of sports academy specializing in motorcycles. Without much financial means, he took part in the PréMoto3 Spanish Championship which he finished in 9th position after a difficult year. But his motivation is intact and was able to seduce the French team of CGBM Evolution who will thus make him climb an additional step and, perhaps, follow in the footsteps of a certain Fabio Quartararo, last Frenchman to have marked the history of the CEV by winning two titles!
We welcome him and will obviously follow his journey carefully during this season.
