After a hectic 2012 season, during which he contested the Rookies Cup, selected rounds of the Spanish CEV series and the European Championship, 15-year-old Belgian rider, Livio Loi, will step up this year to Moto3 with the Marc VDS Racing Team.

We caught up with Livio during a brief visit to the Marc VDS workshop in Gosselies, before he headed out to Valencia to start preseason testing ahead of his world championship debut.

The 2012 season was a pretty busy one for you.
It was a nice debut in the Rookies Cup. At the beginning of the season it was a little bit hard for me, because the setting was not right and I had a lot of problems with the weight, but later on I got better and better, so it was very good. In the end I came off with a win, a second place and a third place.

Later I also rode at Valencia in the CEV, which was very nice also. It was my first time with the Marc VDS Racing Team riding the Kalex-KTM. It felt good and I ended up second, against a lot of GP riders, so more happy than that I can’t be.

Moving up to Moto3 this season with the Marc VDS Racing Team.
Moving up to Moto3 isn’t going to be easy I think, because the level is very high. Yes, I did the Rookies Cup, but still, it’s a lot higher level. I hope I can do well and, like always, I’ll go full throttle so we will see.

Expectations for 2013?
I’m going to learn a lot. I don’t know what my expectations need to be, but I feel very good at this moment and I go for it.

What training have you been doing over the winter?
In Moto3 the races are much longer than the Rookies Cup and the CEV, so I changed a little bit my fitness training. I used to train three times a week, but now I’m almost every day training, also with the pocketbike, which is very funny, but is also good for the physique so, yes, I’m well prepared.

How do you balance school and racing?
With school it’s very difficult because I need time for training, to get ready for the season, but I also have my homework and everything. For me the bikes are coming first so, yes, it’s a bit difficult.

Although this year I have some extra time for fitness because I can’t ride the first two rounds, as I’m a little bit too young. It will not be easy to watch the other guys go full throttle while I’m only watching them, but, okay…

A new team and new teammates…
I come now to a very big team with two experienced teammates in Mika Kallio and Scott Redding. Both Scott and Mika helped me last year when I had a hard time in the Rookies Cup and now, this year, like I said they have a lot of experience, so I hope they can help me again.

Why do they call you The Sniper?
A lot of people ask me why they call me The Sniper. It’s because when I was racing the pocketbike I started almost every race from the back and I catch the other riders one by one and I won the race like that. That’s why they called me The Sniper.