It's historic: Honda is having one of its worst years in motorcycle Grands Prix. Currently last in the constructor's championship, the winged firm can no longer do it without Marc Márquez. LCR, a long-standing satellite team, is logically drawn into this infernal spiral.
Directed by Lucio Cecchinello since 1996, LCR Team has been one of the figures of the MotoGP world championship. Renowned pilots have cut their teeth there for more than 20 years, like
Casey Stoner et
Stefan bradl. Since 2018, the training registered in Monaco has had two machines per year, including one directly supported by the Honda factory with Takaaki Nakagami on the handlebars. The results were far from bad, because if “Taka” struggled, Cal Crutchlow could play at the forefront.
But since 2021, it's been a descent into hell. Cal is replaced by the promising Alex Marquez from Honda Repsol. In principle, this relegation should be beneficial for Marc's brother. By playing with machines from the current year, he could hope to get the hang of it with less pressure, to one day move up. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Last season was anecdotal for the LCR pair; no podium in sight, and only the men of
Tech3 can say the same. Nakagami, once incisive, took no pole position or best lap in the race, like his teammate.
Despite some successes, Nakagami has never confirmed in MotoGP. Photo: Michelin Motorsport
It's sad to say, but 2022 is not starting stronger. LCR is penultimate in the team rankings, and even lost
27 point compared to the 2021 total after 11 races. In a season where 13 pilots are already on the box, Álex and Takaaki fail to climb beyond 7th place. Also, no point going back to the Barcelona incident, sad low light of the Nakagami season.
For the moment, the Japanese still has the advantage over his teammate and is ahead of him by 15 points in the standings. When they saw the finish, Taka finished ahead of Álex seven times, compared to two for the Spaniard. In qualifying, it's even worse.
Nakagami sticks an 8-2 to Márquez which is often among the last. Let's still note his effort in Barcelona, where he started from last place after not being able to complete a lap in qualifying, to finish 10th. How does the future look in all of this? The answer varies depending on the driver, but we should not hope for a miracle at the end of the season. To see good performances, Honda would have to overhaul its copy heavily, and the LCR pair would have to rediscover the aggressiveness that characterized them.
Takaaki is quite old (30 years old, which makes him old in modern MotoGP where young guns abound), and it seems that his place is elsewhere. Ai Ogura, excellent in Moto2 within the structure
Honda Team Asia, seems sufficiently armed to replace it next year. Nothing done yet, but it's the most logical solution.
Marquez remains one of the few champion drivers in the two smallest categories. Have achieved this feat in the 21st century: Dani Pedrosa, Manuel Poggiali and… Marc Marquez. Photo: Michelin Motorsport
On the other hand, Márquez was offered a Ducati handlebar at
Gresini, undoubtedly in place ofEnea Bastianini. This is a very good opportunity for the Spaniard, undoubtedly one of the best on the grid. According to many sources including Carlo Pernat, he was mentally destroyed by Honda. Can we really blame him? Álex remains a double world champion, and has everything to prove. Nothing better than the smallest MotoGP team – in theory – to make a name for itself again. Márquez's style could suit the Desmosedici, a high-performance machine whatever happens: knowing that you will be riding on competitive equipment gives significant confidence and allows you to approach the year with complete peace of mind.
The marriage is unexpected but makes you want to believe in it. We really think he can come back and play more interesting places, with a revenge mentality. It is, in the sense of the author of this article, a much better association than Rinses/CSF despite the talent of the Suzuki official, still on paper. However, we anticipated a possible return to business for Danilo Petrucci at Tech3 at the end of 2020 and we were wrong: the mayonnaise did not take effect. These situations are often " double or quits ", and sometimes it breaks. Let’s hope the best for Álex Márquez!
Of course, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author. Don’t hesitate to tell us what you think of this transfer in the comments!
Cover photo: Michelin Motorsport
