Former world champ Sete Gibernau explains why he’s making a comeback at 45
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Sete Gibernau’s Grand Prix record speaks for itself. Twice a championship runner-up to Valentino Rossi, 24 times a MotoGP podium finisher and a winner on both 500cc two-strokes and 990cc four-strokes, he prematurely retired from the sport at the end of the 2006 season after taking a series of physical and mental beatings on and off the track. And despite a short-lived comeback in 2009 which ended when Angel Nieto’s team ran out of money halfway through the season, the 46-year-old has been largely absent from the paddock. Dabbling in rider management and spotting track side for Dani Pedrosa, he’s remained low profile. Which makes the Spaniard’s decision to come out of retirement in 2019 to race for the Sito Pons’ team in the inaugural MotoE series all the more beguiling. Arguably the headline name in the new electric class, he was immediately competitive at his first testing outing in Jerez last month, despite it being almost a decade since he last sat on a race bike.
But while the former championship runner-up might be old enough to be the father of some of the guys he’ll be racing against, when MCN sat down with him he told us he can’t wait to make some history when the series kicks off for the first time next May.
He said: “It’s great fun to be back on a bike, the team are really good and the bike is fun to ride with loads of grip. To be able to say that I’ve raced a two-stroke 500, V-twin, V4, inline-four, big bang, screamer, five-cylinder, four-cylinder, 990cc, 800cc and now an electric bike is quite something. It means that I’ve been in the past, I’ve raced in the present and now I’m being part of the future too. To me that is really exciting, because nobody else can say they’ve done that. “That’s part of my motivation for doing it. I was very happy at home living a very different life and never thought I was going to do this, but life keeps bringing surprises. And when you’re given an opportunity like this you’ve got to take it.” And while he might be motivated to race again and thankful for the opportunity, he’s also aware that it won’t be an easy task to reset his brain after such a long hiatus. “It’s a big effort for me because I’ve been away for so long, and the funny thing is that when you stop racing there’s some switches in your head that just get switched off. It’s like your brain says you don’t need that, that or that any more, and you live just fine without it all – but I’ve had to come back and start to turn them back on again, which doesn’t happen instantly. I’m maybe halfway towards getting everything back to green.
“It’s a big challenge at 46 years old. I’m so cautious about things that I’m not looking for the Sete that was a contender for the title against the best rider ever. It would be stupid for me to do that. I’m looking to be the best version of myself at my age. That’s not easy because there are some very good guys in MotoE, guys who were top ten in MotoGP this season. They’re all ten or 15 years younger than me and they’ve all been riding much more recently than I have.
“But I’m not saying all that to give myself some excuse, because I don’t need one. I’m not here to challenge them, I’m here to challenge myself. I’ve got nothing to prove to anyone but myself, but I want to see if I can get fit, if I can be part of something that is new and exciting, and if I can bring something different as part of the whole process. I can’t wait to sit on the grid again for the first time, especially at Jerez!”
‘I can’t wait to sit on the grid again’