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At CFMOTO’s marketing event CFMOTO Day - Racing Man, I interviewed CFMOTO’s Director of Racing Development Mr. SU Zhen (苏臻) who has been part of CFMOTO’s World Championship effort since its genesis. Let’s see how CFMOTO got involved in the World Championship and their future plans.

Q: CFMOTO entered Moto3 in the 2022 season. When was the decision made within the company? How was the racing department put together?

SZ: Our CEO Mr. LAI Minjie (赖民杰) has had the dream of entering the World Championship forever. You saw that Mini with a ‘Moto3’ license plate at Zhejiang Karting Track during CFMOTO Talent Trophy. He got that plate way before we had a team. He wants a Chinese brand on the World Championship grid. Initially, my boss Ms LIU Xiaofang (刘晓芳) was working on the prep work alone. I was a member of the PR department at the time, which was also overseen by Ms. Liu. I’ve always loved motorsport. I’ve also studied in Italy. It was relatively easy for me to fit in into a paddock filled with Spaniards and Italians. So Ms. Liu invited me to the project. Actually, until about halfway through the 2022 season, it was only Ms. Liu and me on the project. Then gradually we invited more colleagues within CFMOTO who were passionate about motorsport to join us. We also hired external experts, for example, ex-racers to help us test the bike and help with R&D.

Q: What was some of the key prep work before the first season started?

SZ: Firstly, we needed to decide in what role we would enter, and in what classes we would participate. We had different plans laid out. Secondly, we needed to find a way to get in touch with Dorna and find a team. We have to thank KTM for this. Our joint venture with KTM wasn’t just about manufacturing and sales. We also collaborate in many technical areas. We’ve always had a great relationship, and they helped a lot in introducing us to PrüstelGP and the management of Dorna. Thirdly, we needed to apply to be a constructor in the championship. We worked with KTM together on the chassis. We needed to prove to Dorna how we contributed technically to enter as a constructor.

Q: The great result this year is a continuation of the Aspar team’s track record. How did this collaboration come about?

SZ: When we first entered the championship, we were really prepared for the worst result. We didn’t think we would be able to get in the top five in the first three years. Our results with PrüstelGP have seriously exceeded our expectations. We had a podium in our first-ever season with Carlos Tatay. We had another two last season. But we always felt like these results came from good luck. In the two years, we saw the difference between teams in the paddock - their efficiency, how their riders behave, how the team work together. CFMOTO always strives to be better. Our ambition would grow. We want to learn more about team operation, bike set-up, etc. Then came our opportunity. The collaboration between Aspar and GasGas was coming to an end and KTM notified us. Jorge himself is a MotoGP Legend, this sport is his life’s work. His resources could take us to a whole different level. They have their own circuit, their own riders’ academy, their own technicians’ school. These are all aligned with what we want - building a Chinese bike and a Chinese team. Of course, our time with PrüstelGP was great, it was difficult to part with them when they decided to pull from Moto3.

Q: How do CFMOTO Racing and the Aspar team work together? Would any other member in your department go trackside besides you and Ms. Liu?

SZ: Our colleagues don’t have that much experience in motorsport, so they don’t come trackside during a race weekend that often. Our R&D team work closely with the Aspar team during development and post-race. The Aspar team share their data with us. We have an R&D center in Italy with a testing team, who can work on the data provided by the Aspar team. They’ll work on our bike, and later also use that experience on our production bike. You’ve all seen the outcome - our SR production bikes - at our opening ceremony of CFMOTO Day. Our objective is very clear - MotoGP isn’t just a PR stunt for us, we want to actually learn the technical side of motorsport.

Q: As you mentioned, the results you achieved with PrüstelGP exceeded your expectations. Now working with a team like Aspar, is David Alonso’s dominance this season any surprise at all?

SZ: We knew David would do quite well, but we didn’t anticipate 6 wins in 9 races. To be honest, we had three podiums before, but that win in Qatar was truly different. Mr. Lai was at Lusail International Circuit that weekend as well.

Q: During the opening ceremony on CFMOTO Day, we saw that video revealing a V4 engine. Your official press release said it’s meant for WSBK. Could you share with us how that project is going?

SZ: We’ve mostly locked down on the design. It’s going well. Of course, we still need to do a lot of testing. This is very challenging work. We don’t know when we will be ready to enter the championship yet. As to who we enter with, we of course discussed with Jorge, but he said at his age now, it might be too much to enter as a team. He’s happy to provide support in R&D and testing. We definitely want to work with a competent team with a lot of experience, especially on the technical side. We want to be competitive quickly. We don’t want to simply put together a Chinese team with our new bike. It’ll be very difficult at the beginning. Since we are here representing a Chinese brand, we definitely want to bring home good results. We shouldn't get ahead of ourselves.

Q: One of the key events on CFMOTO Day is the second edition of CFMOTO Talent Trophy. How do you support your signed riders financially around training in Europe? How were the five new candidates pre-screened?

SZ: The riders we signed into our program will get everything related to the training provided, which includes the bikes, coaches, circuits, crew, parts, etc. Then their family will pay the travel expenses to Europe out of pocket. We don’t just provide short-term training sessions in Europe. After all, it is very expensive for the families to travel there. We also organize training in China, and hire coaches to come to China and train our riders. For example, Joel Kelso who used to ride for us is one of our coaches. Of course, training in Europe would have a much different outcome. A lot of it is down to who you train with. In Spain, a lot of times you train together with Moto3, Moto2, or even MotoGP riders. So we have to bring the riders to Spain at least once. Our rider Eddie SUN Shengbo who resides in Spain participated in the first edition of CFMOTO Talent Trophy last October. He was good but there wasn’t a big gap between him and the other riders. When we went to Spain in May this year and trained with him, he was leading by a huge gap. He was at a completely different level already. For this edition, we did receive many applications. But we couldn’t organize a pre-selection event. So we gathered a lot of data from the applicants’ past races and training, comparing their lap time at the same circuit on the same bike. This talent program is completely new in China, no other manufacturers have done it. Now with our collaboration with Aspar, we have the path from JuniorGP to Moto2 ready. If there is a Chinese young rider who has the ability to be competitive in JuniorGP, we will have a seat for them.

Li Lin is Editor-in-Chief of Paddock Sorority, a bilingual Chinese/English media outlet dedicated to women in motorsport. You can find her on Twitter at @PaddockSorority.

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