After part XNUMX of this article, here is the continuation of the interview that Eduardo Martin, the rich Spanish businessman who discovered and has accompanied “El Diablo” since its debut in the Spanish championship, gave us with great kindness.
And if you read it to the end, you will better understand both the situation of the young French pilot and the photo which illustrates this article...
This start to the season is a bit difficult with 3 places of 13th and a crash before Le Mans; Are you worried?
Edward Martin: “Yes, it was difficult. But no, not worried. If you think that, for example, a magnificent driver, like Zarco, was world champion after so many years, I can't be nervous for one, two, or three months. That’s how it is, you have to work. Fabio turned 17 on April 27, he is still the youngest of the team. You could say he's the number one on the team, but he's really the youngest.
We thought that if we changed to KTM, we would have two good years for the rider to evolve at the same time as the team would progress well to develop a bike that he does not know. We made a decision considering that it was a controlled risk. We knew that we would not have direct results, but they will come. A lot of thought went into this decision, and he and his family knew it too. And this decision had nothing to do with money because we had two proposals superior to Leopard. But the project, with all the support outside the circuit for Fabio's preparation, was not comparable.
So when we made the decision, everyone said
“ok, there’s a job to do and we’re going to do it”. So we have a clear direction.
As he fell in Misano, it was not possible for him to ride a motorcycle until January. He did a lot of physical work, he rode a lot in karting, but on a motorcycle he couldn't. So this is the year he needs the most technical work and he needs to get that back. We started to really work on the bike again at the end of January, and the team started testing in February. But the rain and the wind distorted everything and the pre-season was reduced to almost nothing.
So we arrive in Jerez without references and without a stable adjustment base. KTM gave us some adjustments, but my personal impression is that they are not perfectly suited to Fabio's bike because, each time with Christian, we improved them. We made the comparison 7 or 8 times. And our three drivers have the same problem. So there is something that is not working well. With the work we do, we systematically reduce the times and the gap that separates us from the lead.
Then, it is true that for the reasons cited, not much driving, a very reduced pre-season, we arrived in Qatar without references. In testing, he set a good time, the record, but that's only on one lap. Tire degradation during the race pushed him back to 13th. OK.
Afterwards, we had a similar situation in Argentina.
In Austin, we detected things to change, and Fabio was able to make the podium but unfortunately an engine problem occurred.
Afterwards we go to Jerez. We sacrificed free practice and qualifying to find things. We made modifications and it worked, as we saw in warm up. With his pace he could be at the front in the race, especially since he had done it with a 20-lap tire. In the race, there was the problem with Jorge Martin, but he was correct and came to apologize. It's bad luck but it's racing.
We arrive at Le Mans. We have started to put in place a work protocol to be very precise and make the best use of the time we have. We are also working on adapting the rider to the bike and we spoke to Dominique Sarron who I thank because he went to see Fabio in three curves which are difficult for him because of his position on the bike. So we work with the driver and with the engineers, and systematically, we improve. Here, we also sacrificed FP1 and FP2. In FP3, we tested some settings and improved it in qualifying. In qualifying, Fabio remained 0.3 behind the best time in a single lap, with cold tires, because before, he had an electronic problem which cut off the engine. Afterwards, if you look at the race, he drove faster than everyone at the start of the race, with the tires deteriorating.
We have to find out why this happens, if it comes from pressure or something else, but we are close to the solution. We will analyze this to find a solution for the next race. But the important and positive thing is that the direction is clear, the curve is rising, and we still have a long way to go. We are only at the beginning of the solution. So we are at peace. We really have the feeling of working as a team, the driver always has a smile, and we are really happy. It's good! We expect very good things, but we have to work and not give up; a champion can't do that.
I'll tell you something personal; If Fabio has to have a problem like that once in his life, it's now. He's still young. This experience will serve him well for his entire future. Having the character of a champion when everything is going well is easy, but in a difficult moment, with everyone's pressure, being firm and only thinking about working but with a smile, that's difficult, but That's what he does. He is special and I am very happy with him. I am very proud of him!«
