Supersport World Champion in 2002 on Honda Ten Kate with 4 victories at Valencia, Monza, Misano and Assen, Fabien in 151 races won 16, was on the podium 44 times and achieved 14 pole positions and 16 fastest laps race. He won the Bol d'Or in 2000 at Magny-Cours with Jean-Marc Deletang and Mark Willis on Yamaha, then in 2015 with Gregory Leblanc and Matthieu Lagrive on Kawasaki SRC.
Still in endurance, his first participation in the 24 Heures Motos dates back to 2001 aboard an official Honda VTR. Foret then won the 24 Heures Motos twice, in 2013 with Grégory Leblanc and Nicolas Salchaud and in 2016 with Grégory Leblanc and Matthieu Lagrive on Kawasaki ZX-10R, within the SRC team of Gilles Stafler (who will line up in 2019 Jérémy Guarnoni, David Checa and Erwan Nigon). Then Fabien became the coach of his long-time friend Jonathan Rea, recent quadruple World Superbike champion.
His career is still evolving today at the age of 45, and he becomes the Sports Director of the ParkinGO Kawasaki team which is entering the Supersport 300 next year with the Italian Filippo Rovelli (17 years old) son of the team boss, the The Australian Tom Edwards (17 years old) and the Spaniard Manuel González (16 years old) who placed sixth in this World Championship last year.
Fabien, you know Giuliano Rovelli well who entered an Aprilia for Chaz Davies in 2012 in Superbike for his ParkinGO team. He was also very present in World Supersport in which he had many riders ride on different motorcycles. What is your exact role within your team?
“I am indeed a sporting director, which means that I am in constant contact with the drivers. In a certain way, I have a particular role as a sports coach. I try to teach pilots what they need to know to be able to become professional pilots.
“This involves a wide variety of things, such as physical preparation, but also controlling their weight which is still a key argument in the 300 category. I have to teach them to apply themselves and implement everything that is required. important in effective training. »
Last year, Mika Perez, driver of the team, placed second in the Championship, missing the title by only one point (92 to 93) against Ana Carrasco. This proves a good level for the team.
The fact that Ana Carrasco won the Supersport 300 World Championship caused a lot of talk about this event. Has it been a strong promotional support for this discipline?
" I'm not sure of it. She made history by being the first girl to become World Champion in the archives. This category was ultimately good and the organizers revised their approach by increasing the quality of riding for these young people who need to spend more time racing.
“Motorcycles are what they are, and they are not the best machines to learn racing. They still have a chassis that is quite heavy in scrap metal, but they learn the circuits and how to seriously approach high-level events.
“Coming back to Ana Carrasco, I don't think it had an impact, although we talked a little more about the discipline because a girl was leading the Championship. There was an impact, but did it add momentum to the category? I don't think more than that.
“What’s really driving the momentum is that it’s a relatively affordable category. The 600 was going against the wall in terms of the need for investment for private individuals”
After explaining his personal involvement to us in this first part of his interview, Fabien will speak to us this Tuesday the bikes available in this category, the future of the ParkinGO team in the higher categories, and the clear domination of Johnny Rea, of whom he is the coach, in WSBK.
Above: In endurance with Gilles Stafler (SRC Kawasaki)
Title photo: Fabien Foret, Filippo Rovelli and Giuliano Rovelli
