Gilles Mondésir: “What drives me is to perpetuate motorsport”

Hello Gilles. You have now been promoted to the rank of boss of the French Rally Championships. A culmination?

It is an honour to have received the trust of the French Motorsport Federation. I would like to thank its president, Pierre Gosselin, and its secretary general, Rémi Tosello, who offered me this opportunity. It was not an objective in itself, nor even a position that I was aiming for, but I am very happy to now occupy these functions and I will do everything possible to meet the expectations of both the organisers and the FFSA. I will also have the chance to count on Hervé Besson, a long-time accomplice, as president of the CFR Asphalt Commission, but also on Jean-Marc Roger, his equivalent on Earth. It will not be easy to follow in the footsteps of Philippe Soulet (former coordinator of the French rally championships. Editor's note)), but I intend to add my touch and ensure the continuity of his work.

A few days before the start of the asphalt season and a month before the start of the dirt season, what is the general trend?

We had the opportunity to hold several meetings with the organizers and teams. One of my main missions will be to create a union and unity between the asphalt and earth players to raise the "CFR products". All the lights are green, we have laid things out with all the stakeholders, and even if it remains to be concretized on the ground, we can already say that it is a victory to start this chapter with this dynamic.

In any case, you are a legitimate CFR coordinator, since you were notably French Champion on both surfaces: we will come back to this in this interview!

Indeed, and I would like to highlight the initiative of the FFSA to have asked itself the question in this sense regarding the appointment of the new coordinator. This proves the direction it wanted to take and I am even more honored to have been identified as the one who best responded to this request. In all humility, I hope that the various players in the discipline will identify more with "one of their own."