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, hello. We're going to talk about your son who is French Supersport champion: can you start by retracing his journey for the general public who are only interested in Grands Prix?
Sébastien Gimbert : “So Johan started motorcycling very, very late. For what ? Because I really did everything not to let him do it, because unlike other parents, after spending my 25-year career in a paddock, I would have liked to be able to come back to a paddock more to see friends with a holiday feel. There, in fact, I find myself today condemned and stuck to continuing to be involved in the paddocks. No, enough of the joke, in fact Johan had us well with his mother since he started riding motorbikes very young, like that, quickly, because he had PW. It was to play but at no time did we say to ourselves that we were going to put him in the competition. But he had the passion, and as he did average work at school, we gave him a bit of a carrot by telling him “listen, if you work, if you get good grades at school, we will pay you a motorcycle ride”. And we got screwed because he was actually able to do well in school. So we got a bit stuck and he went to a little motorcycle race in Spain, a Copa where everyone had the same bike. Johan arrives at the last race of the year, and rides really well, he is almost on the podium. I couldn't be there because I was at Suzuka, and Adrien Morillas was in charge of it. Adrien calls me and tells me “listen, if you don’t want to deal with it, I’ll take care of it”. So he opened my eyes a little to Johan's potential. That was it, the following year he made the full 300 Copa season. He performed well, he didn't win the championship but he finished 2nd. Then, the Palmeto team, a good team based near Madrid, offered to put it in the Spanish 300 Supersport Championship. It went very well, even though everyone only spoke Spanish and his chief engineer only spoke English. Johan therefore learned to speak English and Spanish, and today he speaks these languages very well. On the bike, he gradually evolved until finishing on the podium at the end of the year, 3rd or 2nd in the last race. It was very, very good and we were delighted with his mother, then we were contacted by a team in the Supersport 300 world championship, the GP Project. And it actually went very well. It was a complicated and difficult year for him because, obviously, new circuits, a very high level compared to the little experience he had, but he progressed throughout the year, he scored points several times, he finished 6th in Aragon.
The following year, he was with the Pedercini team, with Lucio with whom I got along very well and for whom I was riding at the time. What was complicated was that Lucio lost a lot of partners during the year, and we found ourselves in something that was super interesting at the start of the year, but more than very average in the middle of the season. , since the team had no money at all and was doing everything with scraps. So in fact that year Johan really had a hard time, with a lack of performance on the bike and a changing technical team. It was very complicated, but it was a blessing in disguise, because when you experience that, it also strengthens you mentally.
So, at the end of the year, we asked ourselves the question of what we were going to do: try to persist in 300 or move on to something else? And at that moment, Christophe Guyot came to chat a little with me and told me that there were things that were being put in place in France, with a wildcard for the first of the championship, and that it could perhaps be interesting for John. For my part, with the school, we were in the process of switching to Yamaha, so I found it logical to switch everything to Yamaha and set up my own structure, that is to say with my mechanics at the time , a small truck, a family structure but on the other hand with a motorcycle where we put the means to have a very good motorcycle, and above all a lot of training during the winter. He discovered all the championship tracks and the first year he won the Challenger championship, that is to say the one reserved for children, because for me they are still children, under 21 years old. So, he wins it and he finishes 3rd in the championship.
It's very, very good, he learned quickly, and so the following year we said to ourselves that we were going to do everything to win the Christophe World wheelcard and be French champion. So that's what he did, he won the wildcard at Magny-Cours and he finished 11th and 13th, from memory. He did very, very well and then at the end of the year he was titled champion of France. So for me, it's a very good year, because today, thanks to the French Motorcycling Federation, thanks to Christophe Guyot and Yamaha, we have a level in the French championship which has never been so good in recent years. last years. That is to say that today, thanks to
Valentine Debise also who came, it made it possible to compare and analyze what has been done over the last 3 years to try to understand if a driver was capable of reaching a good level in the world championship. Which was the case since we see that today, someone like Valentin won the wildcard last year and today is a regular driver within the GMT94.
Johan wins the wildcard this year and is already of interest to important structures, whether in 600 Supersport to go to the world championship, or whether in a category like the Moto2 FIM European Championship which is the antechamber of the Grands Prix , Yeah. So that for me is great because what we realize is that the major players in the motorcycle world are realizing that today there is a level in the French championship. I think that today, whether in Superbike or 600, there has never been as much level as in the last 2 years. »
But then surprise because well, OK, champion of France, very good, with level, perfect, and still very young, it must be remembered…
“Yes, he’s 18, he’s from January. »
There you are, very young, and the logical next step would have been to aim for the World Supersport and take the skates of Valentin Debise, so to speak. But apparently that's not what's going to happen...
“No, in fact, for the moment it is not yet completely decided, but in any case for my part I really want him to go to Moto2. For what ? Because today, what is a child's dream when we watch TV? It is to go today to the most important championship in the world. If you talk to a karting driver today, he will talk to you about Formula 1, and if you talk to a young motorcycle driver today, he will talk to you about Grand Prix, and what makes you dream when you are kid, these are the Grands Prix. I, in my own time, had the chance to do them. It may not have worked out the way I wanted, but in any case I was lucky enough to be able to do them and it helped me in my career. Afterwards to be able to continue to evolve in the different disciplines that I was able to do. Today, I consider that an 18 year old child, with the new regulations that Dorna has created in recent years, that is to say that today you have to be 18 to go to the world championship, we is very old. Today, we have the best 18-year-old French driver, so what do we do with him? It would be a shame today not to take him or at least not to try to take him to the Grands Prix!
I'm lucky to have people around me who help me, like Hervé Poncharal with whom I interacted, not to mention him. When I called him the first time, it was to give me his opinion, and actually, he just opened my eyes. And for me it's super important because Hervé, for me, is the referent today in the world of Grand Prix, he's the referent. He brought out excellent drivers like Olivier Jacque. He is someone who, when he gives me his opinion, it is very important. And he said to me:
"Don’t even ask yourself the question, go for it!".
I realize that today I'm a bit of the wrong person because I'm the dad, I'm talking about my son, but before all that, I'm also his manager and I'm also his coach . What is complicated for me is to succeed in raising the budget which will allow me to take him to Moto2 FIM CEV because there is a level which is still relatively important: if you enter the 3 first, the following year, you are in the Grand Prix!”
