Dominique Méliand is not the king of endurance. Dominique Méliand is not the bible of endurance. Dominique Méliand IS endurance.
After participating in the Bol d'Or in 1970 as a rider on a Triumph, in 1980 Dominique won his first Bol as team manager with a Suzuki driven by Pierre-Étienne Samin and Frank Gross at Le Castellet. Under his leadership, the Suzuki Endurance Racing Team won 15 world titles and 67 victories.
Dominique, the Suzuki lost the title this year 3 minutes from the end of the Suzuka 8 Hours. In this case are we happy to leave because we are very disappointed, or would we have liked to do one more season to recover a title unjustly lost?
“It’s a bit of a mix of the two. The answer would go both ways, but we have to stick to the decisions we made, namely that I had decided to stop and that a lot of things had been put in place so that precisely this decision becomes concrete, and someone – in this case Damien (Saulnier) – takes up the torch. In this case, you never go back. It's perfectly clear. »
“That you have this feeling of unfinished business is possible, but I have learned in around forty years of competition that the race remains in control of the situation, and that in any case you cannot go against it. »
“Of course, I would have preferred to finish with a good result, but that's not why I want to 'set the table again' and start again because I want to finish with a victory at all costs. »
“You must not have an excessive ego. You have to stay with your feet on the ground. I had happy years, fabulous times, and my career ended the way it ended. It's like that. You don't have to look for anything else. »
What is your role now within SERT? Will you go to all the races?
“Really, I no longer have a role. This is very clear, for many reasons. The first is that you can't have two leaders on a team. The boss is Damien, and I have no desire to be behind him to tell him what he has to do. This is absolutely out of the question. »
“So I no longer have a specific role, but I can go to a circuit because it is not because I retired that I have renounced the motorcycle competition which kept me in suspense for a forty years. »
“Two things are very distinct: the role, and the desire to drag my spats on a circuit. The role is that of observer, but this desire is still in me. »
What do you think of the new SERT team, led by Damien Saulnier?
“I only think good things about it. I knew Damien almost as a “kid” because we’ve been around each other for almost twenty years. I didn't train Damien, because you don't train someone for endurance. I showed him what I was doing, good things, and maybe also bad things. »
“I introduced him to endurance and what managing a team was. I consider Damien competent to manage this team. He has sufficient knowledge, although it is always a question. »
“I consider that Damien is on the right track, that he must now gradually climb the stairs. He has a real, beautiful and good team behind him, and with all these ingredients he is capable of managing the race. »
“I trust Damien to work hard and make the race go the right way, because if you don't work, you don't get results anyway. Damien is a worker, his team too, so vogue… Vogue as it should and the results will come. »
Following the abandonment of its three main rivals Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki during the last Bol d'Or, SERT is now solid leader of the World Championship going into the 8 Hours of Sepang. How then is this type of situation handled?
“First of all, that’s not an excuse. The incidents (fortunately not too serious) which took place during the Bol d'Or meant that the Suzuki was where it needed to be and it found itself in the lead. »
“When I had a broken engine at Suzuka, it of course benefited others, because these others were there at the right time, as needed and in place, to exploit this incident of mine. »
“For Sepang, it will not be easy because we are waiting for the Suzuki, we are waiting for Damien at the corner, and therefore, we have to approach this race which will be tough, because all the competitors must qualify at Sepang to make the Suzuka 8 Hours. This race is going to be tough and there will be no freebies. »
“So it's up to Damien to play his cards right, and to calculate because there will be two races in the same event: a race to win, and a race to bring home big points to consolidate the Suzuki's position in the World Championship . »
“That's what Damien has to do: bring back these points, so that when he returns from Sepang he has consolidated his lead. »
What do you think of the evolution of the World Endurance Championship, with new events like the 8 Hours of Sepang?
“That’s a question that would require a book to answer…” (laugh)
Maybe not…
“I was told, a long time ago, that we were going to have Eurosport Events as a partner in the World Endurance Championship. I thought: why not? Yes, such support could bring us things. But on the imperative condition that everyone stays in their place. »
“For me at the time, the management of endurance and the direction of the competition had to remain the responsibility of the FIM. Eurosport Events brought in new blood and events, but one should not invade the role of the other. »
“I may have backward ideas – I mean: perhaps – but Eurosport Events must not encroach on the role of the FIM. And the FIM must not absolve itself of some of its responsibilities by saying “it’s not us, it’s the other.” »
“I would like us to continue to consider endurance as a motorcycle sport, and not only as an event intended to provide financial income. I would like endurance to remain the sport that has pleased me so much for forty years, and for Eurosport Events to strengthen its image and spread it throughout the world. But let them not come to land that is not theirs. »
“Far be it from me to eliminate the presence of Eurosport Events, but they sometimes encroach a little too much, in my opinion, on land that is not theirs. The FIM must manage the World Championship sportingly, and Eurosport Events must use it to organize events, the two being complementary, each in its role. »
Vincent Philippe, Gregg Black, Étienne Masson and Dominique Méliand
Video: “24H Motos / Last 24 hours for Dominique Méliand”
Photos © Suzuki Racing
