Exclusive MotoGP: Hervé Poncharal (KTM Tech3) takes up the challenge of Razlan Razali (Petronas Yamaha)!

If MotoGP riders are in essence the archetypes of born competitors, the same is often true for their sporting entourage, from the simple mechanic to their team manager, generally people as passionate as their rider.

We sometimes witness different challenges between competing teams in the paddock, when it is not within the same box, between each team of 2 drivers, as was for example the case in Valencia at Suzuki...

But this time, it is thanks to the friendship that unites the two men that Razlan Razali, the Director of the Sepang circuit, launched a challenge on the British site crash.net à Hervé Poncharal of which he has just resumed the partnership with Yamaha to form the Petronas Yamaha SIC Racing Team in MotoGP which will field Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo in 2019.

Razlan Razali : “I made a personal bet with Hervé [Poncharal] from Tech3! I'm finally on the MotoGP grid with him. So we will be competitors on the track, but we will try to remain friends off it. Of course, there are many teams to beat, but first we have to beat Hervé! This year I worked a lot with Tech3, and I also went back and forth to Hafizh Syahrin's box. Now I'm going to have to change my position a little and watch Hafizh more from the pit lane! »

Obviously, such a declaration constitutes a gauntlet thrown in the air in the direction of Bormes-les-Mimosas, and it did not take long for Hervé Poncharal, amused, to take up the challenge, even if, on paper , the French team manager is very far from starting favorite. As a competitor, you don't do it again...

We therefore collected his response which brings a certain touch of lightness to the paddock, just before the end of year holidays.

Hervé, we saw in the press that there was a friendly bet between you and Mr. Razlan Razali. Beating you seems to be his primary objective in MotoGP, almost an obsession. We know he's your friend, but what do you say to him?

Hervé Poncharal : “already, it makes me happy that you called me to ask me what I have to say to him, because yes, he is a friend, because yes, I was able to meet him and work with him, and it was a great discovery, whether on a human or professional level. But what amuses me is that no matter how old we get, me ahead of him, we still remain eternal adolescents and, in the end, it's always the one who pisses the furthest, the one who has the fastest bike or the one who will score the most points. So when I saw his statements, it made me laugh.

All I can say to him is that we will see how our respective riders' points totals in MotoGP stand at the end of the 2019 season, but one thing is certain, it is a huge logic would like him to be the one in front. Morbidelli is Rookie of the Year and was Moto2 World Champion last year. He will have a bike of the same vintage as those of Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi, that is to say a Full Factory with the evolutions, that is to say something that we have never had at Tech3 . So I think he will even give Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales a hard time. He will therefore be very very strong and we saw that Fabio Quartararo, who for me is certainly the most gifted young rider arriving in MotoGP, did some great first tests on this Yamaha M1. For me, he will fight for the title of Rookie of the Year in MotoGP.

So it is certain that the addition of what Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo are going to do, compared to what we will be able to do with a bike which is still for the moment a good notch below in performance, but despite pilots who are good, the KTM–Hafizh Syahrin-Miguel Oliveira combination, with all the respect I can have for the bike and each of the 2 riders, it should be below Morbidelli–Quartararo–Yamaha M1. 

That said, this bet that he talks about in the press and which is a kind of challenge, will only excite us more: even if the mountain is going to be difficult to climb, we will do everything to try to beat it. And if by chance in a few races we are ahead of him, we will not fail to go see him to point out.

In any case, it's funny: Razlan Razali is a mega sportsman and I like that. He does triathlons, he trains a lot and is even partly responsible for Hafiz Syahrin's fall while cycling during the Jerez Grand Prix. But he's a great person, he's at the base of the Malaysian Grand Prix, he manages the Sepang circuit, he's the one who brought Petronas into motorcycle racing, he's the one who manages the Petronas Moto3 and Moto2, and he was also the one who took care of Hafizh Syahrin. We have a great relationship, whether as IRTA/Dorna or more personally between us. I'm also very happy that it's him who succeeds us at Yamaha, because he's a good person and I think he's put together a great team. I was very, very happy to be able to help him during the transition because it's not easy like that and having to build a team from scratch.

There you go, we're going to pull out all the stops: he had already thrown me a cycling challenge and he's now throwing me another one as a team. It's going to be complicated but since we're still crazy and we still have the passion, we're going to work and we're going to take it up! I like that (laughs)! »