Emil Weber hasn't met his IDM rider Valentin Debise in person yet this year, but he's already saying that the Frenchman is “blazing fast.” The reason: He has now won seven out of eight races in the French Championship, including some on the IDM Supersport . Emil Weber, the head of the Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing team, has shared some insights regarding his 29-year-old rider’s contract.
In the International German Motorcycle Championship, Debise will compete in two classes: Superbike 1000 and Supersport , with the premier class clearly taking priority.
It's the same story in the French Championship. There, he scored a one-two finish in each race to start the season. Most recently, at Nogaro, he won “only” three times; in the first Supersport, he finished second.
“At home, Valentin races in the Superbike class for his French Kawasaki Twist Ring Racing Team, which has its own motorcycle. But in the 600cc class, he uses the IDM bike and is already racing for our Kawasaki Weber-Motos Racing Team,” Emil Weber explains. “At Le Mans, he still had the spare bike with him; a week ago at Nogaro, he had the planned race bike. It’s very helpful that our race mechanic, Francois Brucker, is there with us everywhere.” Brucker knows the bikes inside and out.
When the first IDM races take place in Oschersleben from May 21 to 23, Debise will be breaking new ground. He doesn’t know the track. That doesn’t give Weber any cause for concern: “Because of the doubleheader, he’ll have more practice kilometers under his belt than the other riders.”
The brand-new 2021 Superbike is at Weber’s facility in Switzerland and is almost ready. There are differences in the electronics compared to last year. “We haven’t tested it yet. Maybe we’ll be able to get it done before then, but it looks more likely that we’ll use the 2020 bike. That’s a safe bet.” Debise finished third right off the bat on that bike during his IDM debut at Hockenheim in 2020.
Weber considers the IDM Superbike 1000 to be an extremely high-caliber series and expects “that Valentin won’t have a runaway victory like he did in the French Championship.” It’s well known that the Frenchman has what it takes to compete at the top on the ZX-10RR, but Weber also knows: “It’s not just us—others want to get on the podium, too.” That’s no easy feat in the IDM Superbike 1000. What gives Weber confidence is the fact that Debise is constantly racing on a Kawasaki. “He’ll be in race shape and ready when he joins us in the IDM.”