LCR Honda MotoGP Team Chief Engineer CHRISTOPHE BOURGUIGNON on De Puniet incoming season aboard the Honda RC212V

Christophe Bourguignon has been involved in the racing field since 1989 when he started his career like a motocross mechanic passing through different roles and riders till the first cooperation with De Puniet on 2006 at the time of his debut in the premier class. Following De Puniet’s third next season in MotoGP class with LCR Team, we deepen the French rider’s performances and potential thanks to his Chief Engineer’s expert eye. 

Please give us your point of view on 2009 season.

“Of course we finished the season with lot of frustration because the 7th final position in the championship was reachable until he last race. But later, after some reflection, we had to take all the positive points from 2009 and remember our mistakes to avoid them in 2010. We made some good progress compare to 2008; Randy had lot more confidence on the front (probably mainly due to the change of the tyres) and his racing approach was better. The start was much better and for most of the season we have been in our top 10 target. Unfortunately his ankle injury shadowed a lot his final ranking. Technically, after a difficult winter tests start, we had a relatively good performance. The adaptation and the lack of experience with the Bridgestone rubber cost us some points as we did not make the best tyre choice at every race. Then our bike set up, together with Randy riding style, was maybe too aggressive with the rear tyre and the bike seemed to perform really good at beginning of the race but the rear tyre performance seemed to drop quicker than others competitors at the end of the race. Valencia was the perfect example. But overall, considering the profile of our team and the human resources we had, we have to be satisfied of Randy’s 2009 results and we should look to 2010 with a positive attitude”.

What about the 2010 season?

Bourguignon: “For 2010 we had the confirmation from HRC that we will have a factory type spec. motorcycle. Thus all motorcycles should have almost equal performances. Also the fact that all Honda machines will use the Öhlins suspension should help us to accelerate our development and our set up. (On 2009 Randy was the only Honda rider equipped with Öhlins). One year of experience on Bridgestone should improve our tyres selection during the race week end. We will keep all our LCR technical staff to perform properly from the beginning of the season. It will be the 5th season for Randy in MotoGP class (the 3rd with LCR Honda) and he should be back to his top physical performance after the last successful operation of his left ankle. I honestly think we should have a good overall package”.

Your expectation for the incoming season.

Bourguignon: “It is really hard to issue a final target for 2010 without knowing the exact performance of our bike and the potential of our competitors. But, on the paper and with the experience of the whole team, we should target a top 10 finish at every race and we could imagine to battle in the top 6 on specific situation or GP. I am confident that if we would give Randy a good feeling on the bike, he could easily race in the top group”.

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