While they were walking the different special tests of the Grand Prix AMV Seguros of Spain, Cristobal and Victor GUERRERO managed to get free time to answer to our questions…
Cristobal and Victor GUERRERO, you are well-known in the paddocks but the fans out of Spain don’t know you very well… Present you!
Cristobal Guerrerro : “I’m Cristobal GUERRERO, I am 29 years old and I was born in Ronda (Malaga). I started to ride my first bike at 5 years and I made my first competition when I was 9 always in motocross until 2004. Then, in 2005 after many years in motocross I received a good proposal from a team to race in Enduro with Gas Gas in the Junior class.”
Victor Guerrerro : “My name is Victor GUERRERO, I’m 24 years old. I was born also in Ronda (Malaga). I started to ride motorbike at 6 years old and start racing at ten years old also in motocross. I was totally born in this Motorbike world because my father was a famous Enduro rider in Spain and I went to see a lot of his races. Actually, I am an Enduro rider for four years.”
You had two totally different start of season… Cristobal, you still had some problems with you shoulder while Victor, you’ve made great debuts in the E2 class. What do you think of your first two Grand Prix?
V.G: “Yes, I started this year very well. I had a good preparation in winter and also I feel really good with my new KTM 350 EXC-F. I´m very happy and proud with this start and I hope to continue on this way during the entire season.”
C.G: “Sure, that was really not a good start for me because I had many problems with my shoulder. After the ISDE, I wanted to go to surgery but after seeing several doctors, they told me that it was not necessary to go to surgery. So I tried to recover and then, at the end of December I started to ride but only 1 week after I dislocated once again the same shoulder and I had to go to surgery in January.”
Cristobal, are you now to 100% of your capacity and ready for the reminder of the season?
C.G: “Oh yes, now I really feel better. You can be sure that I will give my maximum in Puerto Lumbreras with all the Spanish fans we’ll have!”
Victor, after few difficult seasons in Junior, we can imagine that this good start in the toughest class gave you confidence… How is it possible?
V.G: “For sure, it gave me a lot of confidence. In the Junior class, I wasn’t lucky and not 100% concentrate on the race. I made also some mistake in the settings of my bike. But I learned a lot of my mistakes during those years in this class. And now in E2 I´m 100% focus in every special tests and I can give my best.”
After 2 Grand Prix, did you change your season’s goal?
C.G: “Of course, now my goals change a little bit. From this Grand Prix in Spain to the last one, I will think race by race and try to clinch a podium during every race day and fight for the first place.”
V.G: “No, I don’t have to change my season’s goal; I’ll only stay on this working way and try to grab some Top 5 places. Maybe some podiums, why not?”
Victor, 5 years separated you from your brother, Is Cristobal an example, an advisor for you with his Junior World title and his career?
V.G: “Yes of course, he is an example for me every time when we train and also during the races. He helps me so much with everything and makes me feel better all the time.”
Cristobal, you are the eldest in a family of 5 children (4 boys and 1 girl), is it not an additional weight of being the eldest and therefore the one to show the way forward?
C.G: “I am older than my 3 brothers and try to help and advise them in everything that I can. But I don’t really feel any additional weight of being the eldest, which is something totally normal for me!”
Did you give some advices to Victor when he started in the World Championship?
C.G: “Yes, I always try to help him in any way I can. I give him advises during the races, when we walk each special tests and also during our training. I’m a big brother in every way an older brother has to be!”
There was no rivalry between you?
C.G: “For the moment we haven’t any rivalry between us because we don’t ride in the same class… but if one year, we have to race in the same class, there would be a healthy competition between us because if I can’t win the title, I prefer that someone from my family win it!” V.G: “At the moment not, because he is riding in E1 and me in E2. But he is on another level, I think that I have to learn and train a lot more to fight with him!”
Are you in the life as during the Grand Prix… Inseparable?
V.G: “Yes, we are together every time, during training to help each other to improve all the time. During the races we try to advise the other one in all special tests walks. For example, we like to think different trajectories in the special test and then we compare them and check which one is the best.”
Which are the default and the quality of your brother?
V.G: “He doesn’t have any default and if he has some, his rivals’ mustn´t know them so I will not tell them… (He laughed) In the quality side, he has a really good mind and he never gives up until he reaches his objectives.”
C.G: “I’ll never say his default, the others riders don’t have to know them… But he has a lot of quality, he has a great technique, he is a hard worker and he is very fast and he just has to believe he can do it.”
Victor, you have a twin named Samu who’s riding on the Spanish Championship. Why don’t you bring him to the EWC with you?
V.G: “Yes, I have a twin competing only in Spain. I didn’t bring him with me because he started a little later and he is still learning Enduro. But we want to ride some races together in the EWC and also Six Days.”
You have the number 96 since 4 years now. What represent this number for you?
Cristobal and Victor in the same time: “This number represents perfectly the GUERRERO family. Our father started to race with this number and we are wearing this number in his honor, we love 96.”
We know you really like SuperEnduro… Will you compete in the Championship next season?
C.G: “Yes we love SuperEnduro; it is a so funny and spectacular discipline. But the calendar is not so good for us because we are focus on the EWC. But maybe next year we´ll ride some of the 6 Grand Prix!”
V.G: “I really enjoy the SuperEnduro races. But you have to train a lot for this discipline that is totally different from the real Enduro. I think that I will try to race some Grand Prix next season but it will not be so easy!”
CERVANTES, ROMAN, MENA, SANTOLINO and you… It seems that the Spanish Enduro is healthy. To what is it due?
C.G: “The Spanish Enduro has a pretty good championship. And those three last years we had good rider and some young riders as my brother, SANTOLINO or ROMAN. But now we are still the same rider and it’s difficult to have good young rider, because the financial crisis not allowed them to compete in an entire EWC season.”
V.G: “Yes, we have good riders, men or women. Some of them as Cris, Laïa (SANZ) or Ivan (CERVANTES) can fight for the titles… But with the crisis, it is more and more difficult for young riders to find sponsors, good bike and race the EWC… That’s a pity!”