Lucio Cecchinello is the boss of an LCR team which is Honda's ally in MotoGP. A position once envied, but today it is not desired by anyone because of an RC213V which seems to have become the major headache for its engineers. Some even say that HRC has lost control of a project too much under the Spanish influence where the champion Marc Marquez and the finances come from... The Italian takes stock and can only be pleased to see compatriots imposing their mark in Grand Prix, so deep in fact that the world's leading manufacturer will probably not be able to erase it next season. But he is working on it, notably with a new project manager who is anything but a stranger…
Lucio Cecchinello emerges just as tested as his troops from a 2022 campaign with figures sufficiently evocative to mark the difficulties which were encountered? With Alex Marquez 17th and Takaaki Nakagami 18th in the championship, the LCR team is far from imagining that the hundredth podium in its history is coming soon. And all the more so since it is suffering the full brunt of the collapse Honda in MotoGP: “ the ranking speaks for itself » said the transalpine in the columns of GP One. " Aside from Marc Marquez, who we know is in an above-average category, Pol, Nakagami and Alex arrived one behind the other. We had problems beyond anything we could have imagined ". And on this canceled assessment, he ends with this feeling evocative of real frustration: “ when you arrive on Sunday evening and you score points only because a few riders crashed, it's not easy ».
Honda is well aware of this, since the brand has not won anything in 2022, a dark vintage in its history since it is last in the manufacturers' standings in the MotoGP and WSBK championships... Returning to the field first then to the race then , Marc Marquez made himself heard and sort of banged his fist on the table, which moved the HRC organization chart. Lucio Cecchinello specifies: “ an HRC pillar such as Shinichi Kokubo is back. He was the MotoGP project manager until 2017, then he remained in the working group but was also involved in SBK and Moto3. Such a significant presence from him was no longer there until Marc made his demands, although Honda had probably already thought about this return ».
He also identifies the period when the world's leading manufacturer lost breadcrumbs: “ the biggest problem was the absence of Marc Marquez, which put them in a waiting position. When he got hurt, they waited. In fact, the 2021 bike was very similar to the previous year. Additionally, the pandemic played a role, as everything was late : Japanese engineers could not travel, technical department managers had to analyze the data without being able to come to the GPs to see what the European manufacturers were doing. Marc's absence and the pandemic put Honda in crisis ».
Lucio Cecchinello: “ Italian manufacturers have launched a new era in MotoGP«
We will recall that Marc Marquez also highlights the health crisis as one of the major causes of the Honda collapse. But by pointing out that the engineers could no longer situate “see what European manufacturers were doing » Lucio Cecchinello also specifies what they missed: “ Ducati, with Dall'Igna and all its collaborators, had the genius to be able to think outside the box. The Japanese are very schematic, it takes them longer to make a change, then it is the Italian genius who is rewarded in the first place. Until 2018, Japanese motorcycles were competitive, then Ducati brought real innovations, fenders, scoop, lowering unit, and Aprilia introduced the front lowering unit and studied F1-derived aerodynamic applications. Thanks to this aspect, Italian manufacturers who think outside the box have launched a new era of MotoGP in which aerodynamics are exploited ».
Honda must therefore get up to date. In 2023, at LCR, alex rins arrived : " we are very happy that Rins believed in our project, I am personally proud because he had the opportunity to race with Ducati and Aprilia, but he chose LCR, also because he would have had a factory motorcycle with us » says Cecchinello who nevertheless adds: “ the first contact was positive on both sides and Alex began his apprenticeship on the RC213V. It wasn't the easiest "... And it won't be easy either in 2023 for the entire Honda clan, assures the same LCR boss: " I think it’s utopian or risky to think that next season we will be immediately competitive… 2023 will be the start of a reconstruction ". Then he ends with this conviction which is also a hope: “ I don't know about future strategies, but I just got back from Honda Thanks Day and I can say that Honda is capable of anything. When they want to do things, they do them ". So there’s just more to…
