A few weeks after signing for the Moto2 Fantic team, we met Barry Baltus in Cartagena (Spain). The opportunity to discuss with him the complicated season he has just experienced, but also the many, much more enjoyable challenges that await him in the intermediate category.
The 2025 season will undoubtedly be one of the most important of Barry Baltus' career. As announced last November, the Belgian will leave the RW Racing GP team, which saw him grow in Moto2, to join the ranks of Fantic Racing, a team that dreams big.
After being vice-champion with Aron Canet, the team wants to win the world title on the constructors' side, and will need to be able to rely on its two drivers to achieve this. If he has already shown that he has the potential to play up front, Barry Baltus will have to confirm it next year. This chapter will, however, be devoted to the second part of our interview with number 7. For now, we have decided to talk with him about the campaign which has just ended.
Hello Barry, this trying season is now behind you, and we can say that it ended on a positive note?
Yes, a complicated season which nevertheless got off to a great start. I didn't expect to start like this. Then, a big hole in the middle of the season, and better races at the end of the season. Of course, it was a very complicated season, but we are keeping our morale up with the announcement of the new team. It's just great to have found a team like that which has just been vice-world champion. I hope this will allow me to grow and take a big step forward. In the team I was on, it was really not bad, a very family team. There was a really good atmosphere, but to go and play in front, I don't think they were the best team. We still made a podium, their first. They had never signed one in all these years in Moto2. So it’s nice to have done it. We learned a lot from this season. In terms of results, it wasn't what we wanted, but we made good progress compared to other years. We played a few times up front for the first time. Now we have to prepare as best we can for 2025. I'm already looking forward to getting back on the bike.
I imagine that podium at the last Qatar GP raised high expectations for the season?
Honestly yes. Then I learned that every weekend you have to start all over again. Every weekend everything is new, and nothing is taken for granted. After Qatar, I learned this lesson, because I thought it was over, that the season was going to go pretty well. But on the contrary, it was a collapse, so it already taught me that. Still, it was a good time. First race, to be second, I didn't expect it at all. It was unexpected, so it was nice.
Was it hard to leave the RW Racing GP team after so many years?
Honestly, I didn't expect it, but in Barcelona, after the race, there were a lot of emotions. My chief mechanic, who had been with me for four years, was unable to come because he had a health problem. So it was quite emotional. After four years, as I have often said, we see them more than the family. We spend more time with them than with family. It was moving, but a new adventure is nice too, it re-motivates. So once again, I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike in Jerez in two months.
Did you lose this motivation during the season?
I hadn't lost motivation, but after four years, I think we had come around a bit. And there was no longer that little flame between us. Between the team and me. I needed a new challenge. It was nice for them that I left, and it was nice for me to leave. Nothing to say about the team, they did a great job, but we will continue to work, and we are here to ride, and have a little fun at the end of the season. Regain a little feeling too.
In 2025, ten years will have passed since the last Belgian victory in the world championship. What would you say to the Belgians who are waiting for the next one?
I'm just waiting for that, honestly. A podium was already great. A victory must be even better. I'm just waiting for that, but that's not the main goal. The objective will above all be to build oneself. We've already done a day of testing, and we worked really well. It's really working day after day, building, making myself grow as a rider, gaining confidence on the bike, and then it should come. We don't think about the results before that, so it will really be work.
It was Xavier Siméon who signed the latter. It seems to me that he is no longer your coach?
I'm no longer with Xavier, we separated at the end of 2023. Things are going pretty well, but we didn't completely agree on several things, so now, I'm doing things a little on my own. side, but with such a structure it should be better.
What can the Fantic team bring you next year?
Lots of things. Already helping me grow as a pilot, and helping me progress in terms of driving too. They're the ex-Sky team VR46, so they've been there for years, and they've been playing up front. So they know what to do to stay ahead. I'm there, I listen and I execute, so it should go well.
Do you fear the comparison with the vice-world champion?
We will discuss the future of Barry Baltus
in more detail in the continuation of our interview tomorrow at 12:30 p.m..
