Poncharal: "I Didn't Say Cluzel Was Signed"

One of the great privileges of working as a journalist inside the MotoGP paddock is that you get to speak to some of the great minds that work there. Speaking to people like Herve Poncharal of the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team, Lucio Cecchinello of the LCR Honda team and Pete Benson of Repsol Honda - to name just a few - is always a fascinating and thought-provoking experience. The only downside is that they have your number when you get it wrong.

So the ever-friendly Herve Poncharal phoned MotoMatters.com HQ today, to point out that we had got it wrong in our story on Jules Cluzel. Contrary to what we had reported, he told us, he did not say he had already signed Cluzel, but merely expressed the hope that the Tech 3 team would be able to sign the young Frenchman some time soon. In the interview - which was filmed for the official MotoGP.com website - Poncharal did say that "one of the riders will certainly be Jules Cluzel". This does not mean that a contract had been signed, however, as Poncharal was keen to point out to us.

So MotoMatters.com is guilty of exactly what we accused Poncharal of doing: jumping the gun. We have been hoist by our own petard, as the old saying has it.

After offering our apologies, we inquired about Tech 3's Moto2 plans. They were advancing nicely, Poncharal said, with the rolling chassis likely to be ready by the end of the month. The bike would be ready to test after the Valencia MotoGP round, Poncharal told MotoMatters.com, but the Tech 3 boss would not be rolling it out in public at the post-race MotoGP tests scheduled to take place on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the race. Instead, the Tech 3 bike will get its shakedown test in a private test shortly afterwards. Poncharal was confident that the bike that the Tech 3 engineers were building would be able to compete with the bikes which have already been presented, from the likes of Eskil Suter, Moriwaki and BQR Blusens.