Hervé Poncharal made a little confession on crash.net about the fact that, in recent years, his Tech3 team has found itself at the start of the season with a pair of drivers completely different from the previous one. With an end to the story generally tinged with bitterness, to say the least. The Frenchman, who is a true partner of KTM, must also follow the policy of the Austrian manufacturer whose talents jostle at the MotoGP gate. A particular context that will still have to be kept in mind when this 2023 vintage comes to an end, and in Mattighofen we will have to wonder about the fate of Pedro Acosta like Izan Guevara while, apart from Augusto Fernandez, the other three pilots in RC16 orange or red have a lease until the end of 2024.
Not having exactly the choice of your drivers, when you are a partner of a large manufacturer like KTM with fields full of talent that grow quickly, is not an easy human position when you are a team boss. This is apparently the case for Hervé Poncharal who confided in crash.net about a Iker Lecuona who was, so to speak, the last driver on whom he had a say to receive him in his box.
The Frenchman thus recalls the context of the time: “ my initial team for 2020 was Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira. Then Zarco left KTM in the middle of 2019, so it was decided that Brad Binder would not be with us next year and would replace Zarco. It was decided at Phillip Island, so I found myself without a driver very late in the 2019 season. So I said, 'I'd like to bet on this young driver; Iker Lecuona'. At KTM, they were a little scared but I said: 'Hey, you already took Brad! Let me do !' Iker deserved it ».
The option validated, the beginnings ofIker Lecuona were more than encouraging at the end of the season in Valencia. The rest augured good things, but the health crisis arrived and the young Spaniard suffered the horrors of testing positive for Covid-19, condemning him to withdrawals while the RC16 showed itself in its best light. The train seemed to have passed and Iker Lecuona was never able to showcase his talent for one reason or another. During this time, Remy gardner et Raul Fernandez presented themselves to move up to MotoGP. And we know the rest.
Hervé Poncharal: “ Iker Lecuona is a very fast driver, he has a lot of talent«
A sequence of events on which Hervé Poncharal did not take hold. On the other hand, he did not leave his pilot on the side of the road. He says in fact, starting with this regret: “ Iker is a very fast driver. He has a lot of talent. He's a beast and he can handle a lot of bikes, including a MotoGP bike ". And he blurts out: “ Lecuona did not deserve to leave MotoGP. That's not to say that no one had faith in Iker's potential. Sometimes you have to make a decision, good or bad ».
The fact remains that the tricolor boss was then the first ambassador of lecuona in the paddock, and in particular at a key moment: “ I spoke with Alberto Puig at Silverstone and he asked me a lot of things about Iker. I honestly only told him good things, including that I would have him sign I was him ", said Poncharal which ends. “ If Iker hadn't joined MotoGP, I don't think he would have gotten the Honda WorldSBK offer, clearly. So I'm very happy that we brought Iker Lecuona onto their "radar", if you know what I mean ».
It will be recalled that for this 2023 season, lecuona will find on track one Remy gardner who managed to find a Yamaha to relaunch in WSBK after also a failed experience in MotoGP, but after only one season as a rookie, under the colors KTM.
