Today, we are not going to talk to you about Sébastien Gimbert, nor of his long and successful career, but of his news, which currently focuses mainly on that of his son Johan, 2023 French Supersport champion.
Indeed, at this strategic point in a journey that we hope will be long for the latter, father and son have decided to aim for the highest level, that is to say the Moto2 Grands Prix, thus abandoning the natural path towards World Supersport. For what ? How ? With what risks? We wanted to know everything...
Sébastien Gimbert : “Today, I met a team that really appealed to me, called PromoRacing, who offered me to take Johan under special conditions, because they don't just talk to me about running Johan , they talk to me about making Johan a future Grand Prix driver. That is to say that today for my part, I took him where I could take him. To go further, he has to go to a structure like this which is a bit like a mini Spanish VR 46 and which already has agreements with the Barcelona circuit. They continue the work to go even beyond what I have been able to bring to this day. That means that now, if I manage to take him there, there will be work that will be created in Supermoto, in flat track, in mini GP, in karting, with big motorcycles, to enable him to work in the best possible conditions in order to reach the level that should be his in a few years. The goal for me is that there are 2 years that will be decisive for him, so that within 2 years he will be able to go to the Grand Prix, and not just to go to the Grand Prix, not to do what I was able to do there, which was to go to the Grand Prix to perform there. »
This is rather good news, because until now everyone was saying that there is no replacement. There, there is a hope of succession, we are not going to say that there is a succession, but a hope of succession in any case...
" Yes. So to tell you that it's going to work, I'm not sure, to tell you that it's not going to work, I'm not sure, because I know mine, I know its way of adapting, of to work. So I know that today he is not lazy and we have the possibility of doing it. On the other hand, I come from a modest background, I earned my living but I did not earn my living as a Grand Prix driver, I earned my living in endurance and I have an accessories store motorcycles but I'm not rolling in gold either. So today if we talk about financial means, to be able to put a driver in a top team, because the idea is not to send him there to an average team, I try to bring everything together to be able to join this team which offers us training. It is a structure which for ten years has only been between first and third in the championship. »
Yes, Promoracing has been there since before the start of Moto2 and had even built a prototype with a Yamaha engine, before Honda took over…
" VSthat's it, and these pilots before that took care of the RACC (Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia). I don't know if you remember, RACC was a training school that brought up the brothers Asparagus, brothers Marquez, et cetera, finally all the former Spanish drivers went through this promotion formula. Raul Jara, Cis someone who took care of Dani Pedrosa at the very beginning, so these are people who know the industry very, very well and today their desire is to create drivers who will go to Grand Prix. »
The titles won by RACC riders in this MotoGP World Championship confirm the success in promoting young motorcycling talents initiated long ago by the RACC. In this discreet work, the RACC has had the support of entities like the Federació Catalana de Motociclisme or Monlau Competición, as well as professional managers like Emilio Alzamora, Guim Roda, Dani Amatriain, Ricard Jové or Dani Devahive, some of them also former RACC pilots.
“Johan is not part of the Federation Speed Collective because he is 18 years old, while I am one of the “federal” drivers: if it had not been for the federation behind me, I would not have never had the career I was able to have. I was lucky enough to be able to be a driver for the French team, so it was the chance of my life for me. There, in fact, the federation tried several solutions for a while. So good, not good, I don't know and I'm not here to judge, but I'm simply saying that today in any case, what they are putting in place with MiniGP and future champions are the right solution. On the other hand, today, the problem is that we have a kid who has not joined this Collective, Johan because he is 18 years old, and there we need the Federation, we need the major players in motorcycles to be able to allow Johan to access this level. Because despite everything it could also be a chance for him to get there and perhaps also to allow France to shine in the near future. »
Like Johann Zarco and Fabio Quartararo, Johan paradoxically did most of his training outside France, but remains above all a French driver...
“That's it, he started in Spain and he's been in France for 2 years today, where he learned to ride the 600, but what's a little crazy is that It is thanks to the French championship, thanks to its French championship title, but also thanks to what the Federation put in place, like the wildcard managed by Christophe Guyot, that these people were interested in Johan. Today, the level is raised and French drivers are of interest, whereas this was not the case until now. Until now it was more about whether you were Spanish or Italian, now that's not just the case. So OK, it is perhaps not the Federation which will take him into a federal team, but the federation can help us to integrate a team which would allow Johan, a French driver under French license, to perhaps integrate later the Grands Prix. 6 years ago, Johan attacked the motorbike. In 6 years, he has evolved enormously, he has learned a lot and he can be on the verge of the Grands Prix. There is a card to play and you have to play it. I have a budget to raise and I hope that the major players, that is to say the Federation, a Grand Prix organizer as can be Claude Michy or our national hydrocarbon industrialists will be sensitive to it. If they don't invest in Johan, it will be difficult for me to put him in the European Moto2 championship. »
Where are you with your budget to go to the European Championship?
“So I gathered a lot of it but today I'm missing some. In addition, we have deadlines coming up very soon so I have to be able to find this budget fairly quickly. So I'm struggling, and I won't hide the fact that I'm working day and night to try to raise this budget, but frankly it's not easy, because we're arriving at a moment where everything is complicated. Find money today? Well, it's not simple. »
This ties in with the second question I was going to ask you, that is to say if there is a deadline, when do you see the final decision taken?
“I think that in mid-November we will know if Johan is going to Moto2 or 600 Supersport, but honestly whether it is one or the other, it is already a very, very good adventure. Be careful, I'm not neglecting the 600 Supersport, because we can perhaps come back like the Manuel Gonzalez, but I find that today, at Johan's age, frankly there is still something else to try. »
As Sébastien Gimbert rightly says, not aiming for the highest would not correspond to the mentality of a competitor, especially if he has quickly and brilliantly taken the first steps of the long and difficult staircase. Let's hope that the decision-makers are sensitive to this opportunity and that Johan can at least defend his chances in the Grand Prix antechamber...
