The Marc Márquez monoculture is certainly prolific for Honda, which therefore has no reason a priori to change its discourse and its method. But by exacerbating the vein, the others weaken. Jorge Lorenzo; while he was in good shape, had warned and Cal Crutchlow has been reporting it for longer. But this time, it is also the boss of the LCR satellite team who draws the attention of the HRC to an increasing imbalance in the winged coat of arms clan. Something to think about for those who might be tempted to go…
The last Thailand Grand Prix has once again highlighted the large gap that exists, in terms of performance, between the drivers Honda. While Marc Márquez won at Buriram his ninth victory of the season, and his eighth absolute title at the same time, the two LCR Honda riders Takaaki Nakagami et Cal Crutchlow were only 10th and 12e.
Cal Crutchlow had qualified 13th and finished the race in a disappointing twelfth place. Over the last five Grand Prix, the LCR Honda rider has only taken 24 points with two sixth places and a twelfth. There were two abandonments Brno and Aragon.
The Englishman is now far away in the championship for a driver playing for first place as a resident of a client team. He is at 41 points behind the Petronas Yamaha rider, fabio quartararo. Even the Pramac Ducati rider, Jack Miller, is 17 points ahead of the 33-year-old Briton. “ The others are constantly improving. We still need to find a way to increase our performance "Comments Lucio Cecchinello, owner of the LCR team. “ On Friday in Buriram, we had four Yamahas in the first five positions. It's a sign that the rivals have found something. We need to think about how to give Cal a better bike. We are still working on this. Especially in the area of chassis and electronics we have to find something. »
In addition, Cal Crutchlow complained in Thailand of tendinitis. “ Yes, because Cal has to expend a lot of energy to ride and tame the Honda. That's why he has an infection spreading from his arm to his shoulder. That's why he felt uncomfortable last weekend. But it's not a serious problem »Assures Cecchinello.
The Italian ends with his second driver to further support his point of view: “ Taka was in the top ten seven times in the first half of the season up to Brno. But in the championship he fell back to 12th place » declared the team boss. “ This is another sign of our belief that our competitors have improved, something we have not. We stopped and lost part of our competitiveness. »
We will recall that Johann zarco wonders about the advisability of replacing Nakagami, who would have shoulder surgery, from Australia until the end of this season…
