The ultimate GP of Comunitat Valenciana last November closed the 60th edition of the MotoGP Championship with the best teams and riders travelling around the world to run 17 exciting rounds. Once again the riders performances have fascinated million of fans all over the world starting from the spectacular footlight GP of Qatar in April till the last crowed and “caliente” GP in Valencia which put an end to another season full of speed, adrenaline, overtakes, beautiful girls and stage tricks.
Among the protagonists of this season there’s also the LCR Honda MotoGP Team French rider Randy de Puniet who closed his 4th season in the premier class (the second one aboard the Honda RC212V) in the 11th overall position. Now that the season is over it’s time to look back at the results and, in the meantime, the LCR Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello and his collaborators have already begun their work for next year.
Could you please tell us the bright and the gloomy sides of the last season?
Lucio Cecchinello: “Thanks to the new bike and the new Bridgestone tyres, Randy could solve the front feeling problems he suffered in 2008 and this helped him a lot riding the bike. That’s why he crashed only few times last year. Then in 2008 he was a not a great performer at the starting time but the things are much better now. I think that his personal trainer Yves Demaria (former Motocross world champion) played an important role in taking care of Randy throughout the season; thanks to his support Randy has been mentally stronger and more determined. But among all these positive things there are also the bad ones and, in my opinion, the worst one was Randy’s left ankle fracture in the summer break immediately after Donington GP’s excellent third place. Everybody in the team did the best to manage this trouble but, as a former rider, I can easily say that racing with 7 screws inserted in the ankle is extremely difficult! Apart from the fracture the only flaw in Randy’s riding style remains his performance on used tyres. He is still not capable to use them in the proper way especially in the corners exits. He must be quicker and we are going to help him with that starting from the winter test”.
Your 2010’s prospects.
Lucio Cecchinello: “I am very confident of the following season! First of all we will ride on the Honda RC212V 2010 Factory Spec. from the first race and the squad will remain exactly the same. I honestly think that the team is a like an orchestra: the more you play together the more you get a perfect tune! That’s why I wanted to continue the project we began with Randy in 2008. Definitely next year we would like to be the first independent team in the ranking”.
What happens when the championship is over? How do you manage the following season?
Lucio Cecchinello: “After the last race of the calendar there’s a lot of PR activities to face like fairs, events, dinners and so on thus I travel a lot with Randy. Then I play my Team Manager role developing the contracts to define the graphic project related to the bikes and the structures. The technical staff and the hospitality’s one take care of the machines and structures maintenance in order to be ready for the “kick off” in April”.
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