When Nathan Renkens picked up an injury he still wanted the NR83 KTM team to be present in the Grand Prix paddock so he decided to draft in Florent Lambillon as his replacement rider.
The Belgian recently raced the German GP which was his MX2 World Championship debut and he’s also gearing up to do the triple header at Arco di Trento.
We caught up with Lambillon to discuss his dream opportunity and more.
On how the opportunity came about with the NR83 KTM team…
I’m riding in a little federation in Belgium called AMPL where Nathan Renkens’ brother (Jeremy) is riding too. Jeremy is a good friend and we train a lot together. Two weeks before the MXGP of Germany, he text me, “do you want to do a GP?”. I thought I was dreaming (laughs). Finally he told me that I could finish the MX2 season but that was not possible for me. I work full time so that was a little bit difficult for me. We decided to do the MXGP of Germany and the triple header in Arco. It’s also possible that I will do the last two rounds in Mantova.
On how it felt to secure a World Championship ride…
That is insane! I think I don’t have a word to explain that. This has been my biggest dream since when I was a child. I never rode in an EMX championship before this year because that is very expensive. I went to 3 EMX Open races this year but I crashed hard during the first moto and injured my shoulder. I decided to ride in Oss and Loket because that was incredible for me to do that but I couldn’t ride at my level.
On how his first GP went in Germany…
It was a very nice experience but also very difficult. I’m used to riding aRMZ450, so I needed to go on Nathan’s SXF250. That’s a big change and I could ride only ride the bike one time before Teutschenthal. I went there with my family so that was an environment that I knew. I had lot of texts from Nathan and Jeremy too, I was all the time in connection with Nathan and the team to help me with questions and any worries I had. Luckily I had no pressure on me which is not common in most of the teams.
On the Teutschenthal track…
The track was really tough with some big ruts. The finish jump was just insane and I took a couple of times to pass that. But I had a lot of fun on this track, it’s really different than the tracks in Belgium. I was not really struggling on the technical parts of the track but more on the fast sections.
The level of the MX2 World Championship…
The level is just insane. These are the fastest guys in the world so it seems like it’s normal. I was really impressed by the riders at the bottom of the ranking. They are not far of the guys at the top of the pack, It’s like 5 seconds between them… it’s insane. Apart from that, I was really happy to be under the 10 secs per lap off the speed. The qualifying was really difficult, I was so stressed and I was last. But during the first moto, I passed Vander Auwera and stayed for 3-4 laps with the pack so I’m very happy with that. I knew before the GP that it will be difficult to be with the pack. I work in full time, I am my own training mechanic so I don’t have a lot of time to train. But I do my best with what I have. All of those guys are professional rider.
On his goals for the rest of the season…
My goal for the next GP’s is to be closer of the pack. I will know the bike better and I hope I won’t be stressed like in Teutschenthal (laughs). But I just want to live my dream, have fun and come home in one piece.
Interview: Andy McKinstry
