Winner of the Brno Grand Prix in 2014 on a Honda from the Ongetta-Rivacold team and that of Qatar in 2015 in the Moto3 category on a Honda from the Saxoprint team, Alexis finished sixth in the World Championship in 2014 and eighth in 2013 Since his debut at the age of 11 in the 50 cc Conti Cup, he won the French 3 title in 125, then started the following year in GP with Ajo Motorsport. The Albigensian competed in a total of 2004 Grands Prix, including 167 in 95 followed by 125 in Moto72. After his last GP at Sachsenring in 3, Masbou left the Peugeot MC Saxoprint team disappointed, and thus the Moto2016 World Championship.
Endurance beckoned to him and shortly after, in September 2016, Alexis competed in the Bol d'Or with Moto Ain on a Yamaha R1 with Johan Nigon and Hugo Clère. The crew finished in 6th place overall and climbed to the top of the podium in the Superstock category. The Moto Ain adventure continued until the last race of the 2017-2018 World Cup in Germany with the final third place in the Stocks for Moto Ain with 41 points, behind Tati Team Beaujolais Racing with 49 and Junior Team LMS Suzuki with 43.
Alexis, why did you choose to join Damien Saulnier's Junior Team Lycée Le Mans Sud Suzuki, with teammates Louis Rossi (winner of the French Moto3 GP in 2012) and Hugo Clère (French Supersport Champion in 2016), both Vice-Champions of the 2018 Endurance World Cup already with the Junior Team?
“They are one of the best teams in the Championship with a lot of experience. It is known and recognized because it has allowed many drivers to progress in endurance. Many good pilots have gone through this structure before heading off to other horizons and succeeding.
“For me it is a quality of work, and also a spirit of training because the Junior Team is made to allow drivers to progress. I was happy that they thought of me so that I could progress in my career and so that they could achieve their goals. »
Have you already ridden briefly in the past for the Junior Team?
“I had a brief stint with the Junior Team in 2011, after my Grand Prix career ended due to a major head trauma. I had been forced not to run for six months. The Junior Team gave me the chance to start training again and come back as the fourth driver with them. It stopped after that because I bounced back in the World Championship. So I have known Damien very well for several years, and we will therefore say that I know a little bit about where I am going. »
Is the fact that you have known and appreciated Louis Rossi and Hugo Clère for a long time a plus?
“The Junior Team is a strong team in particular because it retains Louis and Hugo. I am very good friends with Louis, so it is a great pleasure to meet him again, and also very good friends with Hugo with whom we had good times together during my first year of endurance. I know I can count on their speed as well as their physique during long races. The whole thing gives me confidence. »
On a material level, how do you see the competitiveness of your GSX-R compared to the BMW of the current Cup leaders Gert56 German Endurance Racing Team, and the Kawasaki of the runners-up, Webike Tati Team Trickstar?
“I can already say that the BM works very well because I was with the Tecmas team during the last Bol d’Or (Editor’s note: with Camille Hedelin and Maxime Bonnot) on this bike and I know it has very good performance, especially in terms of the engine, but the chassis also behaves very well. It's one of the formidable motorcycles at the moment.
“The Kawa is perhaps less easy, but the news that arrives can help them. The Tati Team rarely makes mistakes, they are always very consistent and present in the Championship for several years. This is their strength.
“Compared to these two teams, the Junior Team is a bit of a mix of the two. They are a very consistent team, even if they had no luck at the last Bol d'Or. It's a team that makes very few mistakes, is fast in the pits, with a bike that works very well.
“I think that for the moment it is a little below the performance that it will be able to give in the long term because it is still a little young and there is still work on everything concerning the development of electronics . It is one of our objectives to work on this point which may have been the weak point at the start of the operation of the motorcycle, but which is progressing regularly. If we manage to improve this electronic part, the bike will be able to show all its qualities, including the power of its engine. »
Unlike you, the three drivers and the boss Damien Saulnier, the young technicians of the team are in training. Does that worry you or motivate you?
“In another structure, it could be worrying. As part of the Junior Team it's not because everyone knows that Damien does his job perfectly and that he has enormous experience in that regard. Every year he takes young people at the start of the season and helps them progress by teaching them all the basics of high-level motorsport. So I'm not worried about that.
“Afterwards, it is certain that they are young people, but they put a lot of heart into it, a lot of involvement. This is what means that between the rigor of Damien in the team and the motivation of the students to do well, everyone provides high level performances each year even though they are young mechanics. »
Your Junior Team LMS Suzuki team occupies provisional seventh place with 3 points, compared to 27 for the leaders. How do you see the 3 remaining races at Le Mans, in Slovakia and in Germany?
“The 24 Hours of Le Mans will be decisive. If we manage to score a lot of points, to race regularly at the front, we could perhaps imagine catching up with the BMW. If this is not the case, it may be difficult because then in the 8 hour races there are fewer points to be taken. We need to win as many races as possible, but it is true that we are starting late. If we come back to contact at points level, it will be interesting. »
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