During the preparatory days for the French Grand Prix, we had the opportunity to speak with Christophe Bourguignon, the technical manager of the Honda MotoGP LCR team for which he officiates Cal Crutchlow.
Like his pilot, Christophe Bourguignon hardly uses wooden language, and his answers are often summaries which allow us to get a precise idea of the problem encountered by Hondas in general, and that of number 35 in particular.
The British driver is currently in 7th place in the championship, tied on points with Jonas Folger, after reaching the podium in Argentina but crashing in the race at Jerez.
We started the year with Hondas apparently in difficulty, as in the previous year, and, for two races, we found them on the top step of the podium. For his part, Cal shows very good competitiveness but sometimes lacks success. After these first four races, what is his state of mind?
Christophe Bourguignon : “I will first come back to the complicated start to the Honda season. Yes, we always have the impression of being a little behind the others. We perhaps made technical choices at the last minute which meant that we were not really up to speed in terms of development and electronics. We were a little behind. Now, the bike hasn't particularly evolved since then. We work and it's small things. Now, why last week at Jerez, a circuit where we had problems, did we experience better conditions? Everyone is wondering a little bit. Were the others worse? We don't know very well.
Riders always complain a lot about the bike. It's not an easy bike to ride, it's aggressive. So we continue to work on that, but it's true that we are pleasantly surprised to find ourselves in a better position, times and ranking, than we thought, especially compared to their negative comments. So this gives us a little hope, the day we manage to put our finger on what we are looking for, on what the pilots want, we will perhaps improve further. Or the contrary ! That is to say, if we try to make the motorcycle more comfortable and more accessible, perhaps we will go no faster at all. So we have to be careful.
Now, Cal's mindset... Well, he's a fighter, and he never gives up. Race after race, he comes back and starts again from scratch. He is super motivated. He doesn't pull the pots behind him. There, in Jerez, he fell in the race and we will say that he was probably a little impatient, but hey; we are here for that ! We're not here to be a number, we're not here to win the world champion title, but I think that if, as a satellite team, we don't take this kind of opportunity and we don't Don't try to fight with the guys in front, the train will pass and we won't get away with it. So, no remorse and no negative points on Cal, because that's why we love him and why we have a pilot like that. He's a driver who goes heavy and is aggressive. And who has never fallen? »
Can we say that the late choice of the big bang engine was perhaps the reason which handicapped you during the first races? And does it provide a real plus?
" Maybe ! That's the right question and we haven't had the opportunity to compare different circuits with sufficient certainty. And even in this choice, there have been developments. We never knew how to go back to back, we moved forward, we moved forward, so would it be better if we went back three steps? No one will know, and it is now impossible to go back since the rules are like this. So we keep our heads down and try to stay in the bubble, find adjustments and improve the choice we have. »
We know that Cal uses a slightly different frame, apparently less rigid given the size of the spars. This frame, used by Pedrosa in Barcelona and then abandoned afterwards, suits him better and he will not go back?
" No. I think we started with that and that we will probably still work on that during the season even if we will perhaps give Honda a helping hand to evaluate other things. He validated it, not 100% last year, but he had more positives than negatives. It was something he was looking for and we decided to continue down that path. We did the same times. It was really very similar, but we continued in a slightly different direction from the others because we thought maybe there was potential. It went well, he had some good results and he gained confidence.
I think the VDS team tried them at the end of the year and also chose them for the season. I think Dani is back on that now too. Now, it would be good to find a compromise for Marc because I think there is something positive.
This is still the problem on the chassis that Marc uses, and that we used at the start of last season; Cal liked it, mainly for entering corners with the brakes. We lost that a little bit. Now, in racing, it's always a compromise and you always have to find what's right, at the right time, with the tires and the settings. This framework is our choice, and yes, we will continue with it, for a while. »
We thank Christophe Bourguignon who gave us a little time despite a lot of work within the Honda MotoGP LCR team.
