STAR YAMAHA’S SPANISH IMPORT FILL-IN RIDER: GUILLEM FARRES INTERVIEW

19-year-old Guillem Farres from Spain was not exactly a household name in the States, and he’s still relatively unknown. Racing the occasional European EMX class, or MX2 class with the MXGP series, things all changed for Guillen when Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha called him and asked him to travel to Florida for a test ride. One thing led to another and Farres competed at the Budd’s Creek National with notable 6-13 moto scores giving him 9th overall at his first AMA National. Guillem’s future is still undetermined, after the Ironman race on Saturday, he still didn’t know if he would race the Pro Motocross finale at Fox Raceway. However, we expect to see him at Pala and we also know that we’ll be seeing Guillem Farres back here in the U.S. for the Motocross Des Nations race at Red Bud as a member of Team Spain, September 24-25. MXA’s Jim Kimball spoke with the Spanish rider after his 9-16 moto scores earned him an 11th place overall finish at Ironman. 

By Jim Kimball

2022 IRONMAN NATIONAL | FULL COVERAGE

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GUILLEM, YOU WERE RELATIVELY UNKNOWN IN THE U.S. AND THEN MONSTER ENERGY/STAR RACING YAMAHA ANNOUNCED YOU ARE GOING TO RACE BUDDS CREEK. HOW DID IT HAPPEN? Well, I was supposed to be on a little holiday in Spain. I just got the call from Star on a Friday. They said, “we want to see you ride,” so by the following Tuesday, I was flying to Florida to train with the guys at the farm. I was supposed to leave a few days later Sunday, but I was riding good. The guys wanted me to stay more days, so I just stayed more days. It has always been my dream to race here, and it is an amazing team, so I just said, “yes, this is the opportunity of my life, so I have to stay.” 

I stayed some more days and then Bobby Regan (Team Owner) came to me with the opportunity to race. I then did some more testing with the team. I did not have a lot of time on the bike, but the bike is good. The testing helped me a lot with the bike and that is how it happened. I was not even supposed to come here (Ironman) to race again, but it all happened quickly. I’m very happy to be here again this weekend at Ironman.

YOU RACED A KTM AND DID EMX AND MX2 CLASSES IN EUROPE. KTM HAS TO BE ALMOST OPPOSITE OF THE YAMAHA. It is a whole different world. The bike nothing like the KTM, but my Yamaha is a whole different bike. I am riding for a factory team, so it is something you can almost not compare, but I can say I feel good on the Yamaha, and it is an amazing bike.  

ON THE KTM WERE YOU ON SOME SORT OF PRIVATEER TEAM? Yes, not on a factory bike, but a private team (Raths Motorsports KTM) out of Germany. I am grateful for the guys in Germany because I had nothing before, they helped me. I had no bikes at all. I literally had nothing, and they said, “Yeah, come to Germany. We will give you bikes and give you a place to ride. We are not the biggest team, but you can ride for us.”

They were great from the first moment. They said what they could do for me and I agreed. We did some GP’s and some EMX races. We did what we could and that helped me a lot. That is how Star got to know about me because riding out there in Germany. I am grateful for them, and they were also good that they let me come here. They were happy for me to come here, and they are an amazing team.

THEY DIDN’T WANT TO RUIN YOUR DREAM. They have been helpful to me. The bike is also a good bike for the possibilities we have with it.

I IMAGINE THAT LIVING IN GERMANY WAS QUITE DIFFERENT THAN SPAIN. In Spain, I have all my friends and family. Everybody is there. When I am in Germany, I am alone but also, I am staying with a good family. My teammate is a really cool guy. I can hang out with him, we can do some stuff together, and it is not so bad.

AT THIS POINT, ARE YOU THINKING AMERICA OR EUROPE FOR NEXT YEAR? I am thinking and what I want is America. Now we just need to see the options and see what we can do, but that would be my goal, to be here next year.  

YOUR OVERALL FINISH WAS REALLY GOOD AT BUDD’S CREEK, BUT IN PARTICULAR, ITS INCREDIBLE THAT YOU WERE TOP FIVE IN YOUR FIRST EVER AMA MOTO. I had a terrible start. I don’t even know how the first lap I managed to get to ninth, and then worked my way up to fifth. Jo (Shimoda) passed me mid-moto. I could not follow him as he was really fast but I was happy with my performance. The second moto I was also inside the top ten, but I just had a little crash and lost some positions. overall, I was happy. It is a whole new bike for me, a whole new type of race. The travel was also very different. everything was new for me, so I was happy with my performance.  

AT BUDD’S CREEK IT WAS VERY HUMID TOO, AND THAT IS DIFFERENT THAN GERMANY. Yes, it’s different. Where we are in Florida, it is humid too, so the first day I was getting cramps and everything. That was really crazy but it is getting better day by day.

NOW THAT YOU HAVE HAD THAT INITIAL BUDD’S CREEK NATIONAL, DID YOU FEEL BETTER PREPARED FOR IRONMAN? Sure, now I know how everything works. We also worked on the bike this week, and everything is getting better, step by step. I enjoyed Ironman but felt just a bit off. My results were not quite as good as at Budd’s Creek, but I feel good. 

WILL YOU RACE THE FINAL NATIONAL NEXT WEEK AT PALA? I don’t know yet.

I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE A PART OF TEAM SPAIN AND RACING THE RED BUD MXON, WILL YOU STAY IN AMERICA UNTIL THEN? I need to go back for a couple of weeks, but I think I will come the week before the race to train with the guys.  

WILL YOU STILL RIDE THE STAR RACING YAMAHA BIKE, OR RETURN TO THE KTM YOU RODE IN EUROPE? We don’t really know what will happen, but it will be good to be on a Star bike.

IT WAS ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT FORMER MX2 CHAMPION FROM SPAIN JORGE PRADO WOULD MOVE TO AMERICA TO RACE, BUT IT SEEMS LIKELY HE WILL STAY IN MXGP NOW. HAVE YOU SPOKEN MUCH WITTH HIM? I know him. He is a really good guy. His family are good people, but it is hard for him now to move here. He is on one of the best teams out there in Europe so it is hard to make the move here to the states. For me, this was the opportunity of my life, so I knew I had to take it. It is a whole different situation, but I think Jorge is good where he is right now in Europe, so why would he change?  

IF YOU PLAN TO RACE IN AMERICA NEXT YEAR, DO YOU HAVE MUCH SUPERCROSS EXPERIENCE? No, I never rode much Supercross before. We don’t have Supercross tracks in Spain. We only have a few Supercross races in Germany. But they all stopped, so pretty much I have not ridden Supercross this last year. But with the Star Yamaha guys here, they know what they need to do, and they have enough experience to know what to do to help me, so I am in good hands.

2022 IRONMAN NATIONAL | FULL COVERAGE