MotoGP Interview Hervé Poncharal: “Today I feel something that I like”

After the technical aspect of this pre-season period, Hervé Poncharal shed light on the work carried out by the official GASGAS team during the three-day MotoGP test in Sepang, while also addressing certain harsh judgments that appeared in the press this winter, including those reported in our columns. 

Then the experienced boss of the Tech3 team highlighted the very good feeling found at the start of the season, thus nourishing a passion ignited half a century ago...

Find the first part of the interview here.

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Hervé Poncharal, now let's come to the final tests at Sepang. You must be satisfied with the performances of the experienced Pol Espargaró and the Rookie Augusto Fernández?
Hervé Poncharal : " I'll tell you one thing, even if I promised myself not to make any more statements so as not to ignite social networks. But I'll give you my true feeling: Obviously the big bosses of Pierer Mobility, Stefan Pierer and Hubert Trunkenpolz, when they receive the results at the end of the three days and the best of their drivers is Pol Espargaró who is P13, would have preferred whether it is P1 or P2 or P5. So today, what we see is that the 2022 situation continues and that there are two transalpine manufacturers who are working really very well. We must therefore continue to work and progress.
On the other hand, what I can tell you is that we had a number of things to test, whether in the chassis department or in the engine department, electronics, etc., that we never had in previous years. Never ! So there was an incredible amount of work done during the off-season by everyone involved in MotoGP at Pierer Mobility. Amazing !
So we went through a lot of things, even if the weather wasn't always easy and we had less track time than we had planned to test things. So I'm not saying this to make excuses, but the ranking reflects the attack on a timed lap, that is to say a qualifying situation. However, whether it was for Jack Miller, Brad Binder or Pol Espargaró, we focused more on trying to review everything there was to test. For example, just with regard to aerodynamics, we had two schools, since there was the work of the Red Bull Technology Center and that of the Pierer Mobility group. We were therefore able to test a lot of things, before cross-referencing feelings and having a majority opinion for the four drivers: for example we are not going to do four different aerodynamics for the four drivers, or four different engine specifications. So there was a lot of work and we focused more on that to do what we talked about previously and be able to say on Sunday evening "this is the bike that we think will be the most efficient today", and that involves a lot of laps which are not necessarily laps chasing times. At the end of Sunday, Pol's technical team asked him if he wanted to put on a set of new tires to attempt a lap time, and he said "no, it's 16:30 p.m., I did what I had to do." do and if I go out to improve by half a second or I don't know how much, I might destroy the bike. There, I'm in good shape, we did what we wanted, we did the work we wanted to do with the engineers, I'm taking the plane and I'm coming home, and we'll see you in Portimão ". It's a reaction from someone who is quite comfortable in his shoes, who is quite confident, who believes that he has done his job and who of course has experience. »

« What I can also say, and this is super important, is that we had a magical year in 2020 because we won two races, the first of our existence as a MotoGP team, and we been exceedingly happy. 2021 and 2022 have been difficult seasons and I don't even want to talk about it. I think the team has always been professional and 100% involved in its mission. I'm not going to say more but I read a lot of things that touched me, not me personally because I'm armored, but which touched me in relation to people who were involved 120% by giving their all. of their time, their heart, their soul, their motivation and their know-how. But I didn't say anything.
Today, what makes me happy is that there is a new structure called GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3, we have brought back Pol Espargaró who comes from Honda and who, before, was Factory KTM, with its chief mechanic called Paul Trevathan, we have Augusto Fernández who is Rookie, and while there was a lot of work at Sepang, there was an incredible atmosphere during testing despite the amount of work to be done. Since they returned, Pol Espargaró and Paul Trevathan have sent me many messages of thanks for the involvement and the level of work of the team, and for this atmosphere that is as human as possible. there was. And it’s very nice! »

« I remember the year 1994 when we didn't score a single point all year in 250cc, and where we had already been the target of certain criticism. A few months later, with the same bike which was a year old and the same team, but with a new rider called Olivier Jacque, we were geniuses and the best team in the paddock. So to the people who came to see me to tell me that, I told them “listen to me, we weren’t bad guys and we’re not heroes.” »

« There is a very fine line between heroes and zero, and some people, whether they are journalists, commentators or even sometimes actors, would do well to think and turn their tongue seven times in their mouth before saying things, because it there are things that shock and hurt. And people who see everything black and white, and who take advantage of someone who is in a bit of difficulty by drawing hasty conclusions and hasty judgments without knowing half the truth. It's a bit like the modern world, where you are at the top of Olympus and then nailed to the pillory without really understanding why. You have to accept it and I accept it, but certain sayings come to mind depressingly. So the compliments that were given to the team after the Sepang test make me extremely happy, for all the people who are fully involved in their work by giving their all for the drivers.

« There are also other things that make me very happy, like Pol Espargaró who came to see us at the end of January in Bormes-les-Mimosas with Paul Trevathan. This has never been done before the season, never! It was just to get to know each other better, spend two days together talking to each other, and I thought it was great. »

 

 

« Afterwards, we will see what we do on the track, but our job is also to live together, to work together and to give the maximum we can, knowing that the driver does the maximum he can by being assured that his technical team believes in him, supports him and offers him the best possible equipment so that he does the best he can do. And we'll see what happens. We must also not forget that with the bosses of the Pierer Mobility group, we still have people who are entrepreneurs who invest very large sums of money in racing as a percentage of their turnover, precisely because they like the race. And that, and even if perhaps their machine will not be the best, it must be recognized and appreciated in what we do, because they are not obliged and could also do different marketing operations like what will do Suzuki or other brands. They give us the opportunity to live our passion while being real actors, and not just editors of plays. So when I hear how people sometimes talk about them, it pains me, even if in divorces there is never a black side and a white side. In our world, pilots are heroes, and I agree with that, but they have the right to say everything and responding to them would be poorly received. It's like that. »

« Conversely, I'm happy because today I smell something I like. Coming back from Sepang, I brought the whole team together to tell them what Pit Beirer had told me and what Pol and Paul had said to me who had paid very high compliments following the tests in Malaysia. I love my team and they too have read what this or that person said in the press here and there. So there, it really made them happy and I like this atmosphere where when you enter the box everyone smiles, when the pilot who arrives in the morning high-fives everyone and says one or two stupid things, and that in the evening he eats with his team, laughingly saying “tomorrow, we’re going to fuck them all!” ". Pol has already offered to stay together during Grand Prix weekends overseas, and that's all cool. If the Continental Circus no longer really exists, keeping a certain form of spirit from that era is great. The fact that Nicolas Goyon is starting to step into the shoes of team manager is good because it helps me take a step back and be more available for human relations with the drivers and the team. I have a good feeling, I like it, just like the fact that we are GASGAS Factory Racing and that we have someone from the factory in the box who sees how things are going for us, and who gives credibility to from the factory the quality and amount of work that is done at Tech3. The guys deserve it. »

 

Hervé Poncharal, we feel you are particularly passionate and impatient for the season to begin: So far, is this your how manyth full season as team manager?
« Whore ! It's a good question ! I don't know. I have been in competition since 1979, initially as a friend of drivers, in particular with Marc Fontan. I started working at Honda France in 1983 but I had already followed quite a few Grands Prix with Marc Fontan before. In 1984, the two major disciplines remained endurance and the Dakar at Honda, but I followed Raymond Roche on quite a few events when he had the three-cylinder. HRC released the RS 250cc Compé-Client in 1985 and I did almost the entire season, but I only became responsible for the Grands Prix in 1986 at Honda France, where we had an NSR following the championship title of the world of Freddie Spencer in 1985. There was then only one official bike when he made the double title in 1985, but the year after Honda decided to make factory bikes which they rented to private teams. They were the first to do that, and Honda France rented one and created the Grand Prix department of which I became responsible. So my first full season as Team Manager was in 1986, and since then I have never stopped or missed a single Grand Prix! So that’s 37 full seasons, not counting the rest. Damn, that’s still a lot! (laughs) »

And this will be one of the elements you need to know to calculate the answer to our next Competition… Thank you!