After the long and tiring oriental tour, we were able to interview Hervé Poncharal to take stock of this trio of consecutive races which are Japan, Australia and Malaysia.
It is always a rather special time of the season, during which minds and bodies are put to the test by numerous trips, time differences and the alternation of temperatures between the Australian cold and the Malaysian heat. . The tension is also higher there too, because the hectic pace of this tour can quickly take a problem from a small one to a big one, especially since the teams do not have all their usual infrastructure.
Even if they leave with pleasure, returning to Europe is generally a relief for the men of MotoGP, as well as the opportunity to breathe a little bit before leaving for the last event of the season.
It is in this context that Hervé Poncharal, the boss of the Tech3 MotoGP and Moto2 teams, was kind enough to take his time to answer our questions, and we thank him for that.
Hervé, after having mentioned your best memories of this Asia/Pacific tour, which were the worst?
“In MotoGP, it was when we saw Bradley arrive on Thursday at Motegi. He sat on the motorcycle, and he could not take his riding position, since he could not bend his knee. There, we said to ourselves "We're in... trouble" because there were three consecutive races and, frankly, I didn't see him doing a lap. Guy (Coulon) told me “In any case, he's going to get out of the box, try to do a turn and stop”. Thursday, so we spent the day in this state of mind, and it was all the more the big blues as we had no possibility of possibly replacing it.
And hats off to his determination and his resistance to pain, as well as the great job they did at the mobile clinic, because not only did he do the Japanese Grand Prix with all the sessions, but he finished 13e then 8e in Australia. As you often say in your articles, these pilots are all great guys and few people realize the extent, just as few people realize the state his leg is in, even today. today.
The worst moment in Moto2 was this famous qualifying at Sepang. We know how important and decisive a qualification is for the outcome of the race. When I saw that everything had gone so well in Australia, and that everything had gone so well in Malaysia until the end of FP3, and that from the first laps of qualifying it was hit and we saw that he had hurt his leg and that the bike was quite damaged, then you say to yourself M… M… M…
At this moment, it is a difficult moment. »
So let's forget these bad memories and turn to Valencia. With all the titles awarded, the drivers should be able to let loose and it should make for a great party, right?
" Yes. Already, frankly, I think that the awarding of the MotoGP title to Japan had an influence on Marquez. He had scored in all the races until the Japanese Grand Prix, where he was titled, and the next two, one in the dry and the other in the wet, badaboum, in the gravel trap. So it's clear that the drivers will be completely freed, like Rossi who cemented his second place. Afterwards, there is the Lorenzo/Vinales possibility, but I think that in MotoGP, things will let go. Lorenzo will not only be keen to keep his 3e place in the world but also to end his Yamaha adventure with a very good result, Marquez made two mistakes, and I can tell you that we could see on his face that he was not very happy with himself, so he is going to try to be fast while still being at the finish. Rossi is still very upset about what happened last year in Valencia and therefore has a little revenge to take on this circuit. Vinales wants to end his adventure on the Suzuki, and it's the same for Iannone. And I'm not talking about all the other drivers changing teams next year, so everyone has a good reason to do well in this last race. In my opinion, especially if we have very good conditions like last year, it's going to be a very good race because we're going there with all our guns, with a light heart and without having to make any special calculations. It's going to be very nice. In any case, we won't have the tension or the slightly negative controversies that we had last year, but rather a great sporting weekend where everyone will let loose. »
And in Moto2, even if the fight for second is not over, we will obviously particularly follow the race of our friend one point behind Marini, and tied with Oliveira. »
