For more than 10 years we have had a special relationship with Valentine Debise on French or international circuits. It was therefore natural that we once again opened our columns to him to share his adventure in French FSBK Championship, in which the Albigensian once again aims for the title in Supersport 600 and Superbike 1000.
After his four victories at Le Mans aboard his new Yamahas, then its four victories at Nogaro and three successes at Lédenon, the one we nicknamed VD53 but which now bears number #153 experienced its first mechanical breakdown at Pau Arnos, winning only “only” three of the four races in which he participated.
Ouch, caramba, que pasa? The Albigensian tells it to us himself.
We will find him again after the next event at Magny-Cours, and it will be like this throughout a season in which the former Grand Prix driver (but not only), is once again aiming for the two major titles of the French FSBK Championship.
The fourth round of the French FSBK championship took place on the Pau Arnos circuit, a place you know well…
Valentine Debise : " Yes ! This is my reference circuit because it's where I went to train when I had training bikes. This year, I don't have one but it's still a circuit that I know perfectly well, even if on the contrary it's not where I'm the fastest. Why, I have my own idea, but it has nevertheless been my reference circuit for settings for two years. It's a circuit where we find different corners present throughout the championship, and so I know that when the bike is well adjusted there, there will only be a few adjustments to make on the different circuits where we will go to the French championship. »
What is your idea regarding your level of performance in Pau?
« In fact, I think I'm good there, but I have the impression that it's a circuit where the differences in level between the drivers are smaller than on other circuits. For example, a boy to whom I will give a second on another circuit, I will only give him half a second in Pau. And yet, it's a very technical circuit, there are sometimes things that are difficult to explain. Using it as a reference circuit, I would have thought I could make big gaps, and in fact we could see that in the few years I raced there, there was no big gap. In the first years, there were even guys who were much faster than me (laughs)!
But despite everything, it's a circuit that I know well and it's always interesting to race there since it sets the record straight a little. For me, the challenge of the weekend was to be able to find solutions by modifying my trajectories. The fault I have there, since I ride there often, is that I ride there a bit in robot mode. Even though I haven't ridden there for a few months, the first lap I did there was a few tenths off my best time. I tend to do everything automatically, without really thinking. And so, the challenge of the weekend was to try to re-mobilize to find new solutions. »
After the free practice sessions on Friday, the runs on Saturday were canceled due to the heatwave by the prefect. How did you make this decision?
« Indeed, it was hot and it was going to be difficult because on Friday and Saturday, I did the 600 and the 1000 without rest. On Friday the track was very hot and the feeling was different because of the way the tires felt. In such conditions, motorcycles necessarily run less well because there is less air and we lose power. So it's a different philosophy, and you have to ride more gently so as not to disturb the bike, but it's interesting. On the other hand, it is clear that I have rarely seen as many falls and red flags as on Friday. There's no official count, so we can't really tell, but I noticed more crashes than usual and I imagine the riders were perhaps a little less keen than usual at because of the heat, while we had to have even more concentration because of the lack of grip on the track.
Afterwards, if they cancel it, it's a prefectural decree, so the organization and the federation have nothing to do with it but we are pilots and therefore we want to race. In any case, personally, I wanted to run. I ran in America, in California, in the middle of the desert, and I can tell you it was hotter than that and everyone was running. But in France, we are not used to having conditions like this, so when it happens we apply a precautionary principle.
»
Sunday was also able to take place in a modified way, and at the first Superbike race, we didn't see you at the finish...
« We put a new clutch in before the race, as we usually do, and it didn't work. The why and how, I don't know and we are working to find out the cause but it is not a human problem. We then put in another new clutch and everything worked perfectly for the rest of the weekend. »
In your misfortune, you still lose nothing in the championship...
« No, because Mathieu Gines underperformed this weekend due to his injury. I was a few points ahead of him before Pau and at the end of the day, a little more... Even if it's not much, I widened the gap a little while, without this mechanical problem, I could perhaps have been a race ahead of him. But with ifs… »
The next round takes place in Magny-Cours. Is this a circuit that you like?
« Yes, it's a circuit that I like. I made the World Cup wild card there last year. We decided not to go there to train because we experienced some financial ups and downs and as a result we stretched the budget a little. We will therefore concentrate on getting the bikes back upright in the workshop, but it is a circuit that I know very well. Where I'm going to lose time is that I don't know the gears, so we're going to lose time in the first session, but I'm not very worried because we saw in Pau that the bike settings were starting to change. be good, both in 600 and 1000. I still have a fork to test for the 1000 and a shock for the 600, and we're pretty confident that it will work better, so I'm not super worried. Furthermore, since Pau, we are on circuits where our Michelin tires work really well, even better than at the start of the year, so I'm approaching Magny-Cours without being super worried, even if we don't go there to train. »
You talk about tires, and in a previous interview you said that they would work even better with high temperatures: was this confirmed in Pau?
« Yes, this is confirmed because what we see is that roughly speaking there is no Dunlop in the top 10, and that the Pirellis are far away in the race. So yes, we see that we have a clear advantage over them. »
See you this weekend in Magny-Cours, where we will follow it live…
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