A few days apart, we met Alexis Masbou at the Yamaha blue cRU Camp then to the Carole circuit where the FFM brought together the drivers of the Mini-OGP Collective, OGP and the French Espoir Team.
In both cases, the former Grand Prix winner was there to provide his advice to the younger generation (from 7 years old in Mini-OGP), in the hope of being able to fill the ranks of the WSBK and Moto3 in a few years. The Albigensian, who even gave us an appointment in 3 years for the GP, explained to us the differences between the two approaches proposed to young national hopes.
Alexis Masbou, we see you at the Yamaha bLU cRU Camp, we see you at the circuit Carole for an FFM Collective: are you everywhere?
“Yes, I’m everywhere (Laughs)! Afterwards, it's something that I like, it's something that I like to do and I think there's a need for it. I must have some skills in that, so they call me back later, but it's something that I appreciate and, as a result, we try to go all out, and as long as I'm asked, we tries to make its contribution to the building of French speed. »
The Suzuka 8 Hours aren't part of your news, anyway?
“No, not for us. In stock, we don't have it, and I am only focused on stock in the EWC championship. »
So we come back to your activity as a trainer. Coach in bLU cRU for Yamaha, coach in European Talent Cup for the French team: what's the difference?
« Already, we are not in the same young categories. There, we have young people who are even younger than at bLU cRU. At the bLU cRU, it already started at 14 years old, while the oldest we have here are 14 years old, and 15 for the French team. Otherwise, it starts from 9 years old, so these are even younger drivers, and we will say that these are the top French currently in this age group who are here, or in any case we tried to get closer as many of the best as possible in the Prototype categories, while on the bLU cRU we are rather on young people who are in a slightly more Supersport sector, with some who are young and who will have great abilities on 300 then 600 motorcycles by the rest, and also drivers who are perhaps a little less in the right age groups to compete in Grands Prix, but who could have a career in endurance for the future. So these are two slightly different physiognomies.
And above all, here, we are only present for 2 days, and it is very intense. We're only going to do motorcycle riding whereas at bLU cRU, we were more on a high-level summer camp where young people come for 4 days with 4 half-days of motorcycle riding and 4 half-days, either of sport or of ancillary activity, with more people too, more coaches. There were crossmen, there was speed, there was also Jules Cluzel who was there to represent the high level of speed, Gautier Paulin for the Cross, so it was a little different format, a little more fun maybe the bLU cRU, so that young people can spend a great week Clastres. »
Today, in Carole, there are drivers from the French OGP Championship and drivers who compete in the European Talent Cup, mainly in Spain and where you accompany the drivers of the French Team which is spread over 3 drivers, Guillem Planques, Benjamin Caillet and Enzo Bellon. Where are we in this very high level championship, since Marc Marquez has already selected a young talent, Maximo Quiles?
“So there, on the Collective, we have a good part who are in OGP given that now there are the new Moto4 and Moto 5 categories which have arrived, but there are also ETC pilots, with 2 pilots from The french team, plus Matteo Roman who is with us in ETC. So we have almost all the young people we are currently following. Where are we in ETC? We know that since last year, it has been extremely difficult because the grids have been reduced. We went from 44 in previous years to now 28 directly qualified drivers, in a championship where there were almost 60 at the start of the weekend. Less than half or half, let's say, are directly qualified. In a championship where the best in the world aged 14 to 16 are there, whether they are the Italians, the Germans, or further away the Malaysians, the Japanese or the Thais. So we really are in almost the best current youth championship! What we can say for the French is that last year, there was only one, or even two, that we managed to qualify. This year, we have already qualified 4 and we have not finished the season. The current fastest driver, who is Guillem Planques, has been fighting for the podium almost every weekend for some time. We have Matteo Roman who is now close to scoring points, and perhaps more towards the end of the season. And then we have Enzo Bellon and Benjamin Caillet who are fighting every weekend for qualifying. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and so the next goal will be to qualify each time and start scoring points. So we have 4 who are already on a very good pace, because currently for example for Benjamin or for Enzo who are a little further away, we are less than 2 seconds from the top riders who are in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and ETC. So we are still at the highest level of this age. »
Is the advice you give as a professional well listened to and put into practice?
“Well, obviously not enough, because otherwise it would go faster (laughs)! But like everything, it takes time. I think it's illusory to think that we're going to tell them 'put everything in here' and that it's going to be done in a minute, and that it's going to work straight away. So it takes time. Sometimes it's a little frustrating because we would like things to go even faster, but if I look back, this is the 3rd year I've been taking care of the French team and the OGP Collective, and we go faster every year, the group is tighter every year. So for me, things are going in the right direction. Afterwards, yes, we want it to go faster, we would like it to win this year in ETC, but here we are, we have to be lucid, we are starting from afar. For a long time, young people were less trained and less supervised. There, there is obviously me, who is a bit on the front line, but we can see that there are plenty of other coaches who are starting to work with young people in the field. There are also structures which take more and more care of our young people, so inevitably, all this creates a certain emulation which allows young people to grow better. And so I think that the young people who are there now will have a better chance of succeeding in making it to the Grands Prix in the future. »
So I promise, in a few years, we will have a new French rider in Moto3?
“But it's quite simple: the first ones we have here, they are 14, 15 years old, so that means that in 3 or 4 years, yes, I will bring back the first ones that I trained. I hope, anyway. »
