Five Minutes With Gautier Paulin

Technically stylish and jet smooth – and equally skilled and well versed in both supercross and motocross – Gautier Paulin, aged 23, is simply one of the best racers in the world. A winner of five Grands Prix in the premier MX1 division of the FIM Motocross World Championship, Paulin, a native of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, of south eastern France, will lead the Kawasaki Racing Team into battle this Saturday in Doha, Qatar – the opening round of the 18-round series. Paulin, who pulled down four motos wins and a further eight podium placings in 2013, is poised to make a run at Antonio Cairoli’s stranglehold of MXGP racing. Third in the 2012 MX1 division and fifth in ’13 – an awful concussion suffered at the Circus Maximus circuit at the Euro Speedway outside of Berlin, Germany de-railed what had been an excellent season up to that point – Paulin believes he is in possession of everything he needs to get down to business and become a first-time World Champ. At the start of this week in rainy France, and while packing his gear bag up for the long trip to one of the foremost metropolises in the Gulf, Paulin took a quick time out to speak with Transmoto‘s Eric Johnson and bring us in on his master plan on attacking MX1 riders Clement Desalle, Tommy Searle, Ken de Dycker, Kevin Strijbos, Max Nagl and that unshakeable Antonio Cairoli. Following is what the former BMX World Champion and seven-year GP veteran had to say.

 Gautier, how are you doing today?

Yeah, I’m good. It’s raining in France but I am good.

When do you leave for Qatar?

I leave tomorrow. I prefer to arrive last minute.

What do you think of having the first Grand Prix in Qatar? Do you like going there? It’s a pretty far flung place, huh?

I really like to go over there because the team puts the bike in the crate and once the bike leaves it’s good, because there is less pressure for the mechanics. I also like to go to Qatar because we are in the MotoGP paddock and everyone is close. I also just like it as the first GP of the new season. I really look forward to being there.

Last year you did well at the first two Grands Prix, namely Qatar and Thailand. Do you feel good about the 2014 flyaway swing to Qatar, Thailand and now Brazil?

Yes, that is the plan of course. I go to each GP to do my best and to do something good or special. I want to do good at these three races this year. I like these GPs. Maybe not more than a normal GP, but I like going to these races because they are something different for us.

You’ve worked very hard during the off-season to get your bike and yourself and everything else ready. How is your bike? I know you’re known as a rider who likes to test and who enjoys the technical side of motocross.

I really like the technical side of motocross, for sure. It’s special to do something where I can feel everything. I don’t want to have a mechanic tell me something, I want to feel it directly. I like to test and we improved the bike a lot for this year so all of the crew is behind me. The bike is actually real good. Kawasaki has been great and we’re continuing to get more money from them to spend on development and everything, so that’s great. Everyone is really happy and I could feel how the bike changed this winter and I’m proud of that. I don’t want to say it’s perfect because nobody is perfect and there is not one bike that is perfect. We continue working on the bike and we are ready for Qatar. I really enjoy it all, and I have since I started riding the Kawasaki KX450F in 2012. When you have a good base it makes it much easier to do something good. I’m quite confident with the 2014 set-up.

The word out there is that you believe that 2014 is your year. In other words, everything is in place to make a run at winning the World Championship. True?

It is true. I think that when you are an athlete you are always trying to put it all together, because if it doesn’t work out it’s not because you need something. It’s what I’m trying to do every year and then every year I take a step. I think there is something special here and I feel really good. So we’ll see. I’m not going to say I’m going to win. That’s really not my vision of the thing, you know? There are many things together and I really love riding my bike. Every year that I’m riding I love to ride my bike more and more so that’s really good.

Last year you won GPs, won motos and consistently placed on the podium. In fact, you very well might have had a shot at the World Championship if not for the concussion you received at Round 13. Would you agree?

I mean, last year was a great year and I won many motos, but then I had some bad luck and some races didn’t go how I wanted them to. There were times that I had the best lap time of the moto but I wasn’t in the top three. Things need to go together, you know? Last year was good but it wasn’t like I was really stronger. You need to be confident and consistent and you need to be in the good places at the good time. Last year was good, but it wasn’t like Cairoli’s year. He was a little bit stronger. My fitness level was great and I was the faster rider at times, but Cairoli was always in the best position. He is more experienced and is a seven-time World Champion because he’s really good. I need to learn from it and be in a better place every time. I think this year will be a new year with more experience. I knew where I was going fast last year and I also need to learn from that and do something even better this year.

Well, if anything, you must be confident in knowing you have the speed and the fitness to beat Cairoli.

Yes, I have the speed to ride like Cairoli and I have the speed to ride even faster. But like I said before, he’s a seven-time World Champion and he knows what to do and when to do it. That is where he is strong. I just need to be at the good place at the good time like he always is and then try to beat him. That’s the goal, and it would be bad to race motocross if it was too easy. It’s really nice to have a huge goal like this. He’s a seven-time World Champion and to have a goal to beat him is really nice and makes me very motivated.

Do you have a particular strategy you’re going to adhere to during the opening phase of the World Championship?

To have a strategy is pretty hard because we are doing a mechanical sport, so there is a mechanical side and there is the body and there is the ground, because in the World Championship you have the hard ground and the stony ground and you have the sand and the mud and the hard pack. It’s kind of hard, but I like to ride on every type of ground so that’s cool, and I did some good races on every type of ground so that makes it better. There is no strategy. The strategy is just to enjoy it and to be up front every time. You can not have a strategy when you see Antonio’s year. I think he was always, at the worst, just one spot from the podium. You can’t say, “I’m going to have a strategy for that.” I think the strategy is that you have to go for big points in every moto. That is how Villopoto is doing in America or even Roczen. There is no strategy. You just have to be up front every time.

Speaking of America… I first met you in 2010 when you came to the United States to ride a few rounds of the Western Regional Supercross series for the Star Racing/Yamaha team. In watching you ride and race, it was easy to see you were a very good supercross rider.

I was pretty good. I had some potential, for sure, because I love it. I love to ride supercross. I love to build you guys up in America. Now supercross is way easier, with my riding style, to do being on a 450. When I was in the US I was in the 250s so it was tough because I put a lot of weight on the bike and that was tough for the 250 engine. Now riding the 450, I really like it. The door will open, you know? I signed the 2014 contract to be the World Champion and that’s my goal and reward. It would be something good for me to stay in Europe and ride the GPs for my whole career, but it would be something good also to come over to America to ride outdoors and supercross. I like both of them. I will see. My goal for the moment is to ride 2014, but if I get a good opportunity with one of the teams with one of the best bikes and have the time to get really ready for each series and be directly strong, for sure, I would take this opportunity.

Do you like the big stadiums and big crowds and all the hype and attention American supercross enjoys?

Of course I like it! The people in Europe, when you speak of motocross they are like, “What is motocross?” In America, if you say you are a motocross rider, things are easier because everyone respects you. They respect what you do. They know it’s hard. In Europe it’s more like, “Oh, you do motocross? But there is an engine on the bike so it’s easy.” People really respect motocross in America.

Gautier, you have the reputation in the sport and in the industry of being very professional. Do you see yourself that way?

It’s not only my sport. I agree that I am professional, but it’s something I want to do. In life I like to do everything clean and to do everything perfect. That’s how I am every day. I like people and I love sport and I love what I do so it’s kind of easy to speak about the sport and being a professional. The life I have right now is the life that I like. For sure I want more and more and I want better and better, but when you speak to me about sport, I talk about sport. When you speak to me about motocross, I love to ride my bike. I like the whole culture surrounding motocross so it’s pretty easy for me to be who I am. I’m professional and it’s how I am, but it’s easy to be like this when you love the sport like I do.