The start to the 2015 eni FIM Superbike World Championship season was a tough one for debutant Christophe Ponsson, but the French rider – who began the year with Grillini SBK Team before switching to Team Pedercini – now feels far more comfortable as he received support from compatriot and former World Supersport Champion Fabien Foret.

Christophe, how do you rate your season so far?
A lot has happened since the beginning of the season, especially with the fact that I had to change teams. I now am in a good working environment with the Pedercini team but, on the other hand, I have had to adapt to a bike with different electronics. We had a few issues with the electronics in Imola, with the transmission in Donington and we’ve had big crashes that have caused a lot of damage to the bike. The beginning with my new team has been a bit difficult because they have had a lot of work to do before each race and so have I.

A lot of times, we’ve had to restart from zero, but I think we found some kind of balance in Misano. Unfortunately, I crashed again there, for various reasons including the new asphalt and a little mistake on my part. I was lucky enough not to break any bones but I’ve some pain in the adductor muscles in my legs.

In spite of all these mishaps that have slowed my progression so far, the first part of my first season in Superbike is promising. In Australia, I was 3.5 seconds away from the best lap time and I used that gap as a reference point. At Donington, on a track that I really like, I managed to get to 1.5 seconds away from Tom Sykes. In Portimao, on a difficult track, I was at 1.8 seconds and I think it shows that I’m making progress. For now my targets are more about lap times than race results.

Are you satisfied with the work done and the results you got till now?
To be perfectly honest, I think that I had a good start to the season. If you had told me that I would be only 1.5 seconds away from Tom Sykes in Donington, at the sixth round of the season, I would’ve signed immediately. However, thanks to the work we’ve been doing with Fabien Foret, that’s what we managed to do. It’s great to see our work being repaid with this kind of results. Thanks to Fabien, I’m improving my riding style to slowly win a few tenths of a second. It’s all about these small details and I think that experience plays a lot in all that.

Fabien Foret, who won the World Supersport title back in 2002, has been alongside you since the beginning of the season. How important is his work for you?
Fabien is in many ways the best thing that happened to me this season. After a difficult 2014 season, that I had ended with many questions about my future in racing, we managed to build a strong partnership. When I analyse my results in Donington and Portimao, I think I showed that I deserved my ride in World Superbike. Fabien helps me a lot to prepare race weekends, he helps me with the communication with the team and shares his experience when we’re trying to setup the bike. Communication is important and it’s very important that I can make myself understood by the team. I’m still a rookie with a lot of things to learn. Without his help, my progression would probably not have been that fast.

What do you expect for the rest of the season?
I’d like to keep the dynamic we had in Donington and Portimao. The next races are in Laguna Seca and Sepang, which are two tracks I am yet to know. There, I won’t expect to be as close to the others than during the last races. When we’ll return to Europe, we’ll race on two tracks I already know, at Jerez and in Magny-Cours, and won’t have to discover everything on Friday morning. I’d like the end of the season to confirm the progress we’ve made during the last races. I can’t wait to get back on track, to discover new circuits and then race by night in Qatar for the finale.

At this time of the year, are you already thinking about 2016?
Honestly, I have no idea what will happen. I feel great inside the Pedercini Team and our collaboration is just at its beginning. Once again, my goal is to finish the season on a strong note before starting to think about next season.