He has worked with Moto3 World Champions like Danny Kent and more recently Joan Mir, as well as a plethora of very good riders including Fabio Quartararo. This year, Christian Lundberg is still serving as Technical Director at Leopard Racing, with Enea Bastianini and Lorenzo Dalla Porta as drivers.
The team, currently testing in Jerez, took advantage of the first day of tuesday to tune up the bikes, before fitting the 2018 Honda engines for the second day of testing.
“My first impression of our new drivers is exactly what I expected, Lundberg said. They were faster than the previous season. That's why joy was written on their faces from the beginning. But we have to wait, because race weekends are not like testing. Pilots' brains are weird, sometimes they don't work under pressure.
“The chassis of the Honda is almost exactly like the one from 2017. Only the frame has been made stiffer. The new Honda engine, which we had not yet used, was integrated into the bikes for this Wednesday.
“Of course we are here to win races. I think we have two good drivers again this year who can fight for victory from the start.
“The Moto3 category is, however, very difficult. In the last lap, the smartest driver wins, because the leading group is always huge. I hope my drivers understand exactly what they need to do on the last lap. »
After winning the Italian championship in 1999, Lundberg moved to Spain to compete in CEV with the talented Angel Rodriguez as driver. “It was a spectacular year, the level was very high with Pedrosa, Elias and Faubel, a good year to start “, he remembers. Angel Rodriguez won the title in 2001 against Casey Stoner.
A multitude of great drivers worked with Lundberg in their early years and a common denominator exists among them all. After collaborating with him, they all exploded onto the world stage. “I was perhaps lucky to have talented drivers. They were all kids who were very fast, with raw talent and I think of all of them Scott Redding had the most natural talent. He was very young, but won many races in CEV and then we continued in the World Championship with the same structure and managed to win a race in our first year, setting a new record for the victory of the youngest driver . Casa Particular in Viñales came to us a little older and was better trained for the world stage, which allowed him to win four races in his first year. Both are super talents who are now in MotoGP showing great ability. »
In most of the teams he has worked in, Christian Lundberg has combined the roles of technical director and sporting director, a rare combination in the paddock, especially at world level. He believes there are no secrets: “ Just passion and an open mind, every day there are things to learn. For example, you learn to talk less. What you need is passion to do the job well and be ahead. I came 99% because of my passion, and that pushes you to always give your best and do everything to make things perfect and give the drivers the best you can offer them, which they deserve. But I don't do it for them, I do it for myself. I like this type of competition. »
“Maverick Viñales is a great talent, one of the most talented I have ever seen. We entered his life during a complicated time, not only as an athlete, but also as a teenager. This has given us problems at times, but he certainly has a knack for going fast. To define it in one word, I would say: explosive.
« Scott Redding is very similar. Maverick had less dedication and was mean. I think a lot of Scott's results came perhaps too early, causing him to lose a bit of focus perhaps. He has super talent, but I think he needs to trust the technical side more.
“Stefan Bradl is the complete opposite of the previous two. He was very thoughtful, when he stopped and got off the motorcycle, he already had very clear ideas. He has a gift for high speeds coupled with a very technical mind. This helped a lot in the smaller categories. He is a very complete runner, not very exciting in certain areas, but strong. »
Photos © Leopard Natural
Source: speedweek
