If Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo will defend our colors in MotoGP this season, and although our representatives will be numerous in Supersport 600 and Supersport 300, no French driver appears in the previous Grand Prix categories.
We must therefore turn our eyes towards the other end of the pyramid to see the next generation who, alongside the 3 French riders who qualified for the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup : Lorenzo Fellon, Gabin Planques et Clément Rougé, also includes those who will participate in theEuropean Talent Cup.
With the authorization of the French Motorcycling Federation, we reproduce here an article on Marceau Lapierre taken from the electronic magazine France Moto.
Marceau Lapierre: Victory or nothing!
Winner of Pre-moto 3 in the French Superbike Championship to everyone's surprise, the young Marceau Lapierre is not a hope like the others. He and his father only set their sights on winning the Grand Prix. No half measures, even if it means digging into the family nest egg and working hard.
It's a real hold-up on the Pré-Moto 3 that Marceau Lapierre signed this season. All industry observers were expecting a victory from Alexis Boudin or Bartholomé Perrin, the favorites, but it was the driver licensed with the Ligue d'Occitanie who created the surprise by signing an almost perfect season. Without a fall and without a misstep despite increasing pressure from the big guys in the category. He impressed everyone, even his father who did not expect to see him at such a party and admits to being amazed by his offspring's performance. The fact of regular work according to him. She couldn't please him more in any case. Because Marceau perfectly follows the battle plan set from the start of his competitive involvement. Knowing how to get fully involved and mobilize all possible means to climb as high as possible. To have nothing to regret afterwards.
“My son and I agree on one thing, he will not ride to occupy a place at the back of the grid in a minor championship. What we want is to succeed in sport by winning Grand Prix races, not to ride for the sake of riding. This is how we see the future. And that's why I'm doing everything in my power to support him as best as possible. Even if I have to dig into the family piggy bank and even if it takes up a lot of energy. This is the deal between us and Marceau understands it well. This is why he agrees to work so hard. Afterwards, no mistake, I do not impose any obligation of result on him. As long as he is exemplary in terms of behavior and work, that's fine with me. »
But don't get me wrong, if he agrees to work like crazy at school and training, it's also because deep down, Marceau is a big motorcycle enthusiast. Above all, speed. He doesn't miss any GP on Sundays, even if it means watching them a second time on the following Mondays, whenever he misses something. Impossible to stick it on drivers from the last 25 years. It's surprising for the son of an amateur endurist, but it's not at all mysterious when we learn that from the age of 5, he competed in speed GPs with his father who also happened to ride on the circuit from time to time. time.
Work and determination
Marceau didn't ride a machine from a very young age in any case. It was at the age of 9 that he took his first spin on a PW, while accompanying his sister, 6 years older, on a motorcycle initiation track. He liked the experience but it was mainly by participating some time later in one of these “discovery” days organized by the FFM and Alain Bronec that he caught the bug. Among children of his age on NSF 100 Hondas, he inaugurated a passionate relationship with the discipline. Three years of competition in the French endurance and speed 25 Power championship followed, where he conscientiously learned his classes. By progressing step by step as evidenced by his final places of 10th, 8th and 6th. Then, with the support of Alain Bronec, he climbed into Pre-Moto3 aboard one of the Federation's Sherco PR3s. His first year was okay, he finished 11th in the final, but that's not the important thing. Above all, he learns the job and becomes aware of the importance of work on performance.
Alain Bronec tells us more. “One thing that surprises Marceau is his sense of work. He is already very focused on what he does and understands that you have to work to succeed. Nothing happens by chance. » A reflection which takes on its full dimension when we know that no concession is made to his education: to be entitled to continue motorcycling, Marceau must move to the next class with good grades. If necessary, his parents warned him, the speed adventure ends immediately. This is why whenever he rides his Yamaha 125 TTR and YZF-R for training, or whether he trains on a bike, swimming or tennis, he does it diligently. By pushing his limits each time.
The program will be the same next year for its first year in the European Talent Cup which brings together talents from 13 to 17 years old on Honda NSF 250 R. A category which prepares for Moto 3 Junior, the antechamber of Moto 3 and which is intended to be a free-for-all with more than 40 competitors gathered for each event. It won't be fun, but whatever, Marceau can't wait to fight it out to continue his progress. The objectives set are reasonable: a place near the top 20 at the end of the 2019 season to then secure an 8th place in 2020. He and his father, who has already planned to send a structure there, to Spain where the Championship, are ready for the challenge. Then it will be time to take stock. If Marceau is in the projections, then the adventure will continue, if necessary, he could move towards an engineering school, where his future will be more certain.
Text credit: Vincent / FFM
Photo credit: Gérard Délio
