A field day for Julien Deschamps

As the top place Frenchman in the World Cup final Julien Deschamps found himself suddenly the focus of all the French and international media attention, as befits his fine showing. Yet Julien is by no means a newcomer on the karting circuit. He’s already chalked up a number of significant results in his young career but it took the magical inspiration of the World Cup to bring his talent to the fore. Mariembourg will surely be a tuning point in the career of the driver from Normandy.

Flashback.
Julien, who will soon be celebrating his 16th birthday, began kart racing in the Minime class just 5 years ago. At that time he was a member of the same YCD team as Adrien Tambay and Jean-Eric Vergne. It was there that he met mechanic Franz Parmentier, with whom has been working ever since. He soon picked up a promising 2nd place in a French championship race in Alès. Julian came 4th in the 2003 national championship before moving up to the Cadet category in which he also had some useful results, for example a 3rd place in Le Mans, and prefinal victories in Douvrin, finallyfinishing the French championship season in 4th place. When the YCD team changed its race plans in 2005 Julian joined the prestigious Malevault Sport racing team. He tried his luck in the hotly contested Junior ICA class at the end of the season and was pleased to pick up an encouraging 10th place at the FFSA Grand Prix race in Essay, racing a TonyKart chassis. Julien had a full season’s racing in 2006 in the French and European championships but he had to temper his thirst for victory with some gritty performances as he continued his apprenticeship. 2007 saw him racing a KF2 (formerly ICA) kart. In France the class is called, rather aptly, the Espoir class. Julien certainly proved that he could be quick but found it hard to convert his prowess into success in the finals. He finished the French championship season in 10th place. Julien qualified for the European championship with some very fast times in the qualifying heats in Essay, although he lost any chance he might of had of being amongst the leaders when he hit a problem in the prefinal. His fared no better at the European championships in Salbris. From last place on the starting grid in the prefinal he managed to climb 17 places in the final, finishing the European championship in 16th place. That was already quite a performance but one which few people noticed. Unfortunately, Julian got labelled as a quick driver who often fails to turn his good performances into results in the standings. That, of course, was not at all to Julian’s liking. He might appear placid but he is a highly motivated individual and so he decided to work hard at improving his physical condition with bike training and bodybuilding. Not that he sacrificed his school work. That had to come first, even if it meant missing a few kart practice sessions. Like his father before him, Julian is a keen naturalist and hunter. He hopes to join the French Forestry Commission later, which just goes to show the multiple facets of his character. He is tirelessly assisted by sister and number one fan, Géraldine, and by Alain Zolli, a long standing partner.

Dream weekend in Mariembourg
Ever loyal to Henri and Jean-Jacques Malevault, whose professionalism and knowledge he respects so much, Julian started his 1st World Cup with a low-key 40th spot after the timed laps. Thanks to TonyKart’s involvement via Malevault Sport, in particular their engineer Alberto Viglino and team manager Giacomo Aliprandi, Julien knew that he could count on a top class machine. Focussed and determined, he was secretly aiming for a place amongst the top world drivers. He qualified in a superb 18th position, making him the best placed French driver in the Mariembourg event. The prefinal saw him move up to 13th. Julian continued this dream start by moving swiftly into the top ten in the opening laps of the final race. After losing some ground when he was shunted, he quickly regained his composure and started to haul in the leaders, finally crossing the line in 5th place. In a World Cup, if you please!

Julien Deschamps dedicated this fine result to the whole Malevault team, to Mr Robazzi, the Tony chief, and to Franz Parmentier, his faithful mechanic.