The French GP track at Villars Sous Ecot has had a major revamp prior to the GP to be held there on May 21 – six years after it last held a GP. It will be the eighth GP there, as well as home of the legendary 1988 Motocross des Nations.

Since it’s first GP in 1982, the track called ‘La Versenne’ has changed a lot, as the club always want to offer a great location for the riders. But they have never worked as hard as they have this winter to renovate it.

“The track was not in accordance with the FIM rules any more, it was too fast and it was time to change it. We worked with Jean Luc Fouchet (former rider and boss of the French Supercross series since 1987) on the project and 80% of the layout has been changed. The start remains at the same place, but the first corner is a left one (instead of right); we also had five new corners, and the new track is more spectacular; the fans always have a perfect view on the track, and they will have also a new platform to watch the races” explained club president Luc Pellier who also work with Cedric Lucas, one of the most famous French track designers.

Six years ago, the club organised its last GP but it was very wet which kept spectator numbers low. It took a long time for the club members to recover and get motivated to hold an MXGP again.

“Since then we organised two rounds of the French Elite series, and all our members asked for another GP,” explained Luc Pellier, president of the club since 2019. “Of course 2017 was not really a success, but two years earlier we had a fantastic event with Romain Febvre winning his first ever MXGP round. So we asked for another GP to the FIM and Infront, with the support of the French Federation, and here we are with a strong support from the local authorities.”