After a career in short-format racing, Florian Marino switched to Endurance. Now a rider for the ELF Marc VDS KM99 team, the Frenchman has had to change the way he approaches racing in order to get the best out of himself in a discipline built on compromise.
You have been racing in Endurance since 2019. How have you seen the discipline evolve since your debut?
Since 2019, the overall level of the teams has clearly gone up. Before, even if it is still partly the case today, there were three clearly identified leading teams. Now, I feel there are more like four or five capable of fighting at the front. We are also seeing some really competitive Superstock bikes, capable of regularly finishing in the top 6 or top 7. The races have become more intense, more sustained. Before, there was more of an approach where you would start by keeping a 15% margin and wait for the race to unfold. Today, that is no longer possible. Everyone starts almost flat out. If you do not immediately get onto the right pace, you miss the train and find yourself in a different race. For me, it is really in terms of intensity that Endurance has evolved the most, with more competitive bikes and the arrival of ambitious teams like ours.
What qualities does a good Endurance rider need today?
The first quality is the ability to last over time. You have to stay clear-headed whatever the circumstances and be able to make the right decisions in unexpected situations. That is part of the folklore of our discipline: something is always happening. You also need to be someone who does not complain too much… unlike me! More seriously, you have to accept that not everything will be perfect. In Endurance, you cannot always impose your pace or your will on the race. Sometimes you have to deal with the conditions, the traffic, the strategy, the state of the bike, or whatever is happening around you.
When you have spent a long time in short-format racing, is it difficult to adapt to Endurance, to string together stints while keeping a margin and avoiding mistakes?
The most unnatural thing, when you come from short-format racing, is accepting that you were not able to perform the way you wanted. You have to accept that a lap is lost because the situation on track does not allow you to keep pushing. When you come from short-format racing, you are programmed to perform on every lap, to give everything and never miss an opportunity. In Endurance, with experience, you learn that sometimes you have to let one or two laps go and tell yourself that the next one will be better, rather than taking too many risks and potentially making a mistake. That is often where riders coming from sprint racing get it wrong at the beginning: they want to make every lap count, whereas in Endurance you sometimes have to know how to let an opportunity pass.
What has the arrival of partners such as the ELF Marc VDS structure changed for the KM99 team?
It has brought more technical support in general. We have greater backing, whether from Yamaha or in terms of the skills of the people within the staff. Last year, we also had the chance to go testing at Suzuka, which we had not been able to do before. And this year, switching to Bridgestone tyres is a real plus. It was more or less the final piece we were missing in our package. Today, that support gives us a more competitive overall technical package.
What are your ambitions this season?
The first objective is to complete a race without any trouble, to put everything together, without necessarily trying straight away to fight with the leading teams. For me, the benchmarks remain SERT, YART and FCC whatever happens. We are not very far behind, but first we need to get to the end of a race without a grain of sand jamming the machine on our side. Today, we have not quite managed to do that yet. But I am convinced that when we do, the final result will not be very far from the best. It will also create a real breakthrough for everyone in the team. We will probably be a little less cautious, with more confidence in our ability to fight at the front.
When you come from short-format racing, is it complicated to share a bike, make compromises on set-up and avoid ego battles?
Yes, it is complicated, especially when you are a short-format racing rider and you are new to Endurance. Today, I feel I have gained a lot of experience in the category. So I try to see that situation as an upward spiral that pulls me along. On my side, I mainly want to be rigorous and perfect in what I know how to do, without necessarily trying to do more. In our team, we have new “top guns” arriving, very fast guys like Alessandro Delbianco and Bo Bendsteyner. Trying to rival them over one flying lap does not really make much sense. On the other hand, going after consistency, being there in the final stints when fatigue starts to set in, or when conditions become tricky, that is where I can be competitive. It is also a source of motivation. I would rather have fast team-mates than riders you have to push from behind. When the riders are fast, it raises everyone’s level. Afterwards, very fast riders can sometimes be more prone to making mistakes in delicate situations. That is where experience and consistency become so important.