Christophe Charlier

The 2009 European Champion and 2010 Italian MX2 champion shared an awning in the Yamaha Monster Energy Gariboldi team with Harri Kullas for a first ‘chew’ of Grands Prix in 2010 and 2011 and although the immensely gifted racer was able to savour his ‘mouthful’ on several occasions it was also a term that was tricky to digest. A pesky thumb ligament provided fans with only fleeting glimpses of the Corsican in full flight and the rookie was not able to get near the domination that he slam-dunked on the Euro series but Charlier was quick and completed a noteworthy ‘education’ at the first time of asking in the FIM World Championship.


Charlier’s exceptional handling of a motorcycle through the bumps, ruts, rhythm sections and berms of a motocross circuit marks him as one of the brighter talents in Europe and he came into 2012 with a fantastic opportunity to shine on the factory Yamaha 250cc prototype. ‘CC’s luck with injury struck again as a pre-season broken foot caused him to miss the first two rounds and he also dislocated his shoulder in France. A high point was his first ever podium finish when he survived the mud of Brazil this May.


It is tricky to know what the future holds for ‘23’ and MX1 could be a better fit for his size and style. One thing is for sure though; motocross followers haven’t seen the real potential of Charlier yet.