During the last French Grand Prix at Le Mans, we were able to hear the words of Eric de Seynes, theatypical but nevertheless effective boss of Yamaha Europe whose incredible journey should interest every biker… (See here).
A true motorcycle enthusiast, and a pilot himself in his spare time, his speech, full of common sense and without tongue-in-cheek, sets some records straight...
Eric, whatever the outcome of this afternoon's race, between the weather, Johann Zarco's pole position and the fervor of the public, this weekend we are witnessing the most beautiful celebration possible …
Eric de Seynes : “yes, we are here at a French Grand Prix where we cannot dream of better conditions. Weather, public, audience, quality of the set, quality of the show, with Johann on pole who responds despite pressure which is obviously significant. I was able to talk quietly with him last night and Johann Zarco is doing Johann Zarco, that is to say he is clear in his head and takes great pleasure in being there and being able to be in front. So yes, it’s a fantastic Grand Prix, and a promising one. So obviously, the difficulty for us is to give all the means, and we give all the means to Johann so that he has the best possible bike throughout the season, because we want him to be able to do the best results.
Too often, people believe that there could be a rivalry between the Factory team and the support team, but honestly that's nonsense. I was going to say something else but that's nonsense, because at one point, what matters is that a Yamaha is in front. And today, when I talk with the Factory team engineers, when I talk with the drivers or when I talk with the managers, everyone considers that seeing Johann do what he does is additional motivation to progress, because let this show us what the motorcycle is capable of doing. The only thing, and we've said it several times, is that we obviously have the engine which is the same between Johann's bike and the Factory bike, except that there is a difference in operation. of the engine speed, and therefore of the engine character which is a little more flexible and a little more linear for Johann. Which, ultimately, becomes an advantage because we have a certain deficiency in the management of our electronics which is not fine enough, which is not adjusted enough, and which means that with an engine which is more violent like we have on the Factory motorcycles, that puts us in difficulty. So we could simply say to ourselves that we just need to cool the engine to win again... That's true, except that competition, at this level, is always looking for the highest standards, and when you have an engine which is a little more violent but a little more powerful, but which has more potential, it is on this basis that you work, and you must succeed in making it work. So that puts us in difficulty, but as we know that Johann is well ahead, at the limit there is always a Yamaha that is there, and that allows us to be in difficulty, and to accept to to be in difficulty to pass this step which extends its arms to us.
I understand that there is a big misunderstanding from the outside, but now it's the Grands Prix. We are in a period where unique electronics and unique tires have terribly leveled performance, and you are told that you are in the cellar when you are at 4 tenths. Just 4 years ago, 4 tenths behind you were second on the grid. So we have to put things into perspective a lot, put things into perspective a lot, and we even see that here, between the sessions which take place with bitumen at 21°, we are ahead, in the top 3 or top 4, and suddenly the track takes 10° and we find ourselves 9 or 10th, because it's a matter of a few tenths and we find this traction problem where with hotter asphalt the tires slip more and that highlights this difficulty that we have with electronics. So. The equation is not that complicated, at least on paper, but it is more complicated to solve because it unfortunately takes time. Engineer time, development time.
I just want to emphasize that everything I have heard regarding Valentino is unfortunately a lot of speculation. Valentino is someone who is focused, who works a lot, who works on his job and on his bike, and he doesn't care whether it's Vinales or Márquez next to him. He has no influence over this and does not seek to have any. We have to stop putting Valentino in a role that isn't his, and in the same way, I find it a shame that people interpret things that don't exist. Valentino has a team in Moto3 and Moto2, he has no teams in MotoGP! And today, there is no deadline to put a team in MotoGP. So to make people believe that Tech3 would have left because there would be the threat or pressure of a Valentino team to come is false! It's wrong ! Tech3 left Yamaha, it was their decision. He is lucky to have security of partners and sponsorship with Red Bull that he did not have with Monster or with us, and that is the real reason. We must therefore stop interpreting things sometimes in a very confusing and very complicated way, and which, in any case, hurts me because it is not true and does not represent the effort that Yamaha is making. Today, Yamaha is doing everything possible so that Johann can win and continue to have a competitive bike.”
