MotoGP | Cecchinello: “Honda had to choose whether to invest or withdraw”

The LCR team has had Honda equipment since it debuted in MotoGP in 2006, with Casey Stoner as its rider. Since then, the team founded by Lucio Cecchinello has boasted four victories, three with Cal Crutchlow and the last with Alex Rins, achieved in last year's Grand Prix of the Americas. It is also the last success for a Honda rider.

Despite the disastrous sporting moment that the Japanese giant is going through, which concluded the 2023 season in last position in the constructors' ranking, Cecchinello feels more important than ever within the HRC structure. In a chat we had a few days ago with Motorsport.com, the former driver revealed that Honda had to make a decision that could have had enormous consequences on everyone involved in the World Championship.

“Last year, due to the lack of competitiveness of the bike, Honda reached a point where it had to make a decision: either invest more in the MotoGP project or withdraw,” revealed Cecchinello, happy with the direction taken by the brand's top management of Tokyo. “Honda has chosen to stay, because its DNA starts from motorcycles, even though they now make rockets to travel into space,” added the owner of the LCR team.

With the conviction of remaining involved in the championship, the Japanese brand has thrown itself headlong into the desire to return to having a competitive motorcycle as soon as possible. “What I see this year is that there are a lot more people from Honda involved. The presidency of Honda has given clear indications that the competitiveness of the project in MotoGP must be re-established. All this starts from a greater availability of economic resources”, explained Cecchinello.

Honda is in the midst of a disruption that has claimed several lives over the past year and a half. Takeo Yokoyama, technical director, was replaced by Ken Kawauchi, coming from Suzuki, just over a year ago. Then came the turn of Shinichi Kokubu, leader of the MotoGP project, who was relieved of his duties at the last Japanese Grand Prix to make room for Shin Sato. The next to go will be Tetsushiro Kuwata, general manager, who will leave his job at Taichi Honda in April. All this, however, did not have the repercussions that Marc Márquez's departure caused.

Thus, the most famous team in the championship seems determined to return to the positions in the standings to which it was accustomed. Its strategy, to a large extent, passes through the hands of LCR: “This year, Honda has changed its focus in developing the bike. Until now, the first analyzes were carried out by the test team, which then passed the pieces to the official team, which, in turn, assessed whether they were good or not. Only from there did they reach us when they were available,” said Cecchinello, whose garage, with Johann Zarco and Takaaki Nakagami, was always connected to that of the official team in the tests at Sepang and Lusail.

“Now, the test team carries out its analysis and the pieces are distributed among the four starting drivers, each time. HRC receives feedback and data from the four pilots at the same time. This is a much more efficient system,” commented the LCR team manager.