With 18 victories and 43 podiums in Supersport, but also a victory in the Moto2 Grand Prix, Jules is the rider with the greatest number of best performances in SSP 600. Winner in Thailand during the second event of this year, second to Phillip Island, he has just finished third on Sunday in Jerez.
After two excellent first races, it was a little more complicated at times afterwards, then last weekend you placed third, one second behind first.
Do you think victory could have been possible under more favorable circumstances?
“Under more favorable circumstances, it would have been a mistake on the part of my adversaries, but that was impossible. So I'm clear about it, and I think it's important. When they wanted to accelerate during the last three laps, I couldn't do anything.”
You finished third on the first day of testing. Did that give you confidence?
“Yes, it gave me confidence, but not especially in relation to the gap because it was huge compared to the two Yamahas from the Bardahl Evan Bros team. WorldSSPTeam. We absolutely had to find solutions because I didn't particularly want to finish third.”
“My goal is for us to progress. We tried several possibilities to find performance but in reality it was the opposite, we went straight into the wall on Saturday.”
You fell heavily during the Superpole, without being able to defend your chances after setting the eighth time. Were you worried about the race then?
“Yes, I was worried, especially on Saturday evening because we really weren't feeling well. I didn't have a good feeling. Pretty much everyone had progressed, except us. We tried a gear which was catastrophic because it made me change gears much more often.”
“Finally I crashed in a quick break while passing fifth. For Sunday, we went back to a gear totally opposite to what we had before.”
In the race, you moved to 3rd on the 13th lap by overtaking Raffaele de Rosa. The peloton included 6 drivers grouped in 1 second: Krummenacher, Caricasulo, toi, de Rosa, Mahias and Gradinger. We had fun watching the race. And you, on the motorbike?
“Me, on the bike, I didn't get a particularly good start. I found myself, let’s say last in the pack. I joined Corentin (Perolari) who had gotten off to a better start than me. I had to concentrate and stay calm to get past all these small people and get back to the front, which I managed to do.”
“I lost a lot of time to pass a driver, it didn't affect the end of the race but it was the only really painful moment for me. It's part of the race.
“I'm very happy because I was behind the group and I managed to get back into leadership. I was able to believe it a little bit, but they killed my hopes in the last laps.”
The top three in the World Championship Randy Krummenacher, Federico Caricasulo and you all ride Yamahas. Is this an advantage or a disadvantage?
“Actually neither because there is no exchange of information between the teams. This is not an advantage, but it is not a disadvantage either. With the GMT94 Yamaha team we have to find what works and that’s what we’re looking for, but at the moment we’re having a little trouble.”
“What's pretty cool is that I think we've found the right direction for the next race in Misano.”
How do you see the rest of the Championship?
“I am positive because Imola was a good race until the technical problem, but here in Jerez we no longer had this kind of problem at all. The team worked well between the two races.”
“In terms of performance, we were in great difficulty during testing. But finally on Sunday morning we found a good solution which allowed us to gain half a second compared to qualifying. This is what allowed me to find myself third.”
“So for me it’s positive to get back on track at this pace, at least in the place I had, we’ll say roughly before the European tour (Editor's note: first tie in the provisional ranking of the World Championship with Krummenacher, after the second event in Thailand). And we have to start from there and progress to be able to tickle them ! ".
Photos © GMT94 Yamaha
