Gabin Cazard: From four races a round to the WorldSPB

In the French FSBK Championship, there have been a few riders who competed in more than one class during the same season, thus facing four races at each round instead of “just” two. One big example is Valentin Debise, who in the 2021 and 2022 seasons raced and won in both Superbike and Supersport (as discussed in our interview).

Another example is a young rider who, in 2026, will make his debut on the world stage and compete in the new Sportbike World Championship: Gabin Cazard.

Growing on home soil

Born in 2003 in Paris, Gabin Cazard has developed continuously in the French motorcycle racing scene. The first important milestone of his career dates back in 2020: one win, five further podium finishes and third place overall in the 400cc class of the Coupe de France Promosport, where he was also the top Yamaha rider and won the R3 Cup standings. In 2021 Cazard moved up to the Supersport 300 class of the FSBK championship, the main motorcycle racing series in France. There, Cazard secured two podiums in the opening round at Le Mans and several top-10 finishes, despite experiencing some ups and downs.

In 2022, Cazard moved up to the Supersport class. The 2022 season was about adapting to the new category, but the young Frenchman improved race after race and secured is first top-10 finishes at the final round of the year at Le Mans, as well as three top-five results in the Challenger category (the one for younger riders). In 2023, still in Supersport, he became a regular in the top 10 overall and in the front positions in the Challenger ranking, where he claimed one victory, eight additional podiums and second place in the standings behind Bartholomé Perrin. In 2024, finally, Cazard achieved several overall top-five finishes, also finishing 4th in five occasions, and ended the season fifth overall.

Four races per weekend and a title

The 2025 season brought Gabin Cazard a major challenge: racing in two different classes and contesting four races at each FSBK round. In addition to continuing in Supersport, the Paris-born rider also made his debut in the Yamaha Challenge SSP 700, a sort of French Yamaha R7 Cup.

Cazard rose to the challenge and proved competitive every weekend. In Supersport he scored one victory (Race 1 at Lédenon), two podiums, numerous top-7 results and fourth place overall in the standings.
And what happened in the Yamaha Challenge SSP 700? Across 14 races, he took seven wins including six consecutive ones (three double victories in a row at Nogaro, Magny-Cours and Pau-Arnos) and two second-place finishes. He also scored points in every race, with two sixth places as his worst results. An incredible run, which allowed him to clinch the title with one round left.

Exactly. In the same year, Cazard competed in two different classes of the same championship, faced four races per weekend instead of two, won the title in the R7 Cup, achieved his best-ever results in Supersport and scored victories and podiums in both categories. He did not manage to win in two classes or to take four wins out of four races in the same weekend, as Valentin Debise had done a few years earlier, but let’s say that what Debise did was more than special...

Up to the world stage

And that's how, after a steady growth and a 2025 season that was as successful as intense (all of this with Team CMS), Gabin Cazard will make his move to a world championship. In 2026, the French rider will compete in the newly created Sportbike World Championship with the Yamaha MS Racing FIMLA AD78 team, where he will line up alongside Brazilian rider Humberto “Turquinho” Maier and share the track with strong riders, whose talent was in most cases already proven on the world stage. And that's not all, because Cazard and MS Racing will also contest the Spanish ESBK championship, again in the Sportbike class.

It's still too early to say how things will go, but Cazard is aiming to make the most of the opportunity and to shine in what is, in effect, his first season racing outside France.

An interesting fact to close the article: for the past few years, Gabin Cazard has been balancing his motorcycle racing career with his studies in Business Administration at IÉSEG School of Management, one of the most prestigious business schools in France...