Jules Cluzel is currently second in the Supersport World Championship, 5 points behind leader Sandro Cortese. He won three races at Assen, Imola and Brno on a Yamaha R6 from the NRT team, whose owner is said to be speedweek in cessation of payment since April. Of course, this complicates the situation for Jules Cluzel, with four races remaining. Will Christophe Guyot and his GMT94 be able to save Jules? We interviewed the French team manager to take stock with him.
Christophe, first of all the GMT94 stops endurance. For what ?
“I don't really have the feeling of stopping endurance, but rather of moving towards the speed which has been close to my heart since my beginnings. It's part of my team's DNA. There hasn't been a season since 1989 that we haven't been involved in speed. We won three national titles in Superbike. My attempts at world speed have not been successful until today.
“When we left Superbike in 2009, we returned to endurance. In 2014, Dorna promulgated regulations in Supersport which we felt were made for us. The idea arose to return to World Supersport. With the arrival of the new R1, we continued in endurance racing, finishing vice-World Champion the following two years. As soon as we were World Champion in 2017, we knew we were going to the speed world.
“I imagined at that time that we would still do Le Mans and Le Bol at the same time. But in 2018, for the first time in the history of the World Endurance Championship, all the races were matched on dates with the World Superbike, except Suzuka. This situation is obviously not viable and we are only honoring our commitments made in 2017 by dedicating ourselves fully to global speed.
This has been our ambition for a long time and the time has come to dedicate ourselves completely to it. »
Mike Di Meglio raced the first two rounds of the World Supersport in Australia and Thailand, then Corentin Perolari took over from Donington (15th), then to Misano (12th). How did this first part of the season go?
“We found ourselves far behind on the clock with Mike at the start of the season and we didn't expect it. We didn't understand why we were 3 seconds behind a lap. In Australia it was a disaster, we were almost last, and in Thailand too.
“Mike decided to stop, and at the suggestion of my son Rémi, I hired Corentin Pérolari, whose talent was confirmed to me by Hervé Poncharal and Adrien Morillas. We had nothing to lose by welcoming a young person. We offered him a dream. Without pressure, with Corentin we made considerable progress. In his first race, he had 8 bikes behind him, better than before with Mike. We improved quite a few things, helped by Niccolo Canepa who discovered at Le Mans surprising dribbling problems in the fork even though it was equipped with a standard Ohlins kit. Corentin confirmed and we went to 1.5 seconds behind.
“In England, Corentin did a lap 0.7 behind Sandro Cortese in the race. In Misano, he unfortunately missed qualifying, but managed the 11th fastest time in the warm up, and he finished 12th in the race, 1 second behind 8e, and especially in the wheel of Ayrton Badovini. For us the season starts now. We are going to do tests in Portimao and Magny-Cours. Everyone believes it. »
Jules cluzel is not sure of being able to count on his team for the four remaining races. Can GMT94 help him?
" The answer is yes. In any case, we could welcome him if the situation did not improve within his current team, despite the intense efforts of his manager Eric Mahé. We have everything you need to welcome Jules.
“We do not yet have precise information on this subject but we can only hope that the situation gets better and that he continues the season with his team, which would be the most logical and normal thing.
“Otherwise, we simply responded because we feel completely capable of welcoming Jules if necessary. »
Corentin Pérolari
Above: Eric de Seynes (Yamaha Europe Director) and Corentin Perolari
Photos © worldsbk.com / GMT94 / Jules Cluzel perso
