MotoGP – Interview Lucio Cecchinello: ” the CRTs are not the future of MotoGP ” – Interview with Lucio Cecchinello

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Interview Lucio Cecchinello: ” CRTs are not the future of MotoGP ”

MotoGP - Interview Lucio Cecchinello: '' the CRTs are not the future of MotoGP '' - Interview with Lucio Cecchinello

In an interview with Site, the team manager of the LCR-Honda team in MotoGP looks back on the 2011 season, reveals his 2012 objectives with Stefan Bradl and considers the future of the premier motorcycle category. Meeting with Lucio Cecchinello.

Interview with Lucio Cecchinello

Site: Winner of one and, Toni Elias completely missed out on his 2011 MotoGP season (15th overall and two eighth places as best result). How do you explain it ?

Lucio Cecchinello : It was an extremely difficult season for our team. We did everything we could – and more! – to offer a competitive motorcycle to Toni. In sixteen years of experience, never has LCR done so much work in trying to find solutions! Unfortunately, nothing helped because the main concern, in my opinion, was the tires: Toni could not get them up to temperature because of his small size and his specific driving style, very swaying. According to our data collected by telemetry on board our RCV, his tires were always 15 to 20 ° C cooler than those of other MotoGP riders….

Despite all our interventions on the chassis, we have never been able to find a setting allowing it to warm up its tires. In my opinion, Toni’s riding style was simply incompatible with the new generation of Bridgestone: our team did not become incompetent in the span of a season, nor did Toni lose his ability to go. quickly !

I discussed this with the Bridgestone technicians and also at Michelin, who confirmed to me that Toni had never been able to use tires as hard as the other drivers. It needs a tire with a softer carcass, which warms up faster. But as the regulations now impose the same tires for everyone, it was not possible to make him build a model more suited to his needs..

M-.N.C. : But given that he was driving much slower than his competitors (on average, Toni Elias gave almost 2.5 seconds to the fastest lap in the race), isn’t it logical enough that he does not manage to heat up his tires ?
L. C. : Exactly, it was a vicious circle! Toni couldn’t go fast because he couldn’t heat the tires, so the bike was slipping. But due to lack of speed, the tires were not subjected to enough constraints – especially vertical ones – to enter their ideal operating temperature range..

M-.N.C. : At the end of the season, you had the choice between several riders for 2012 (Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, but also Randy de Puniet who has already raced successfully for LCR in 250 and MotoGP). Why did you choose the young German pilot ?
L. C. : When we started to think about which rider we would run in 2012, we immediately consulted the HRC (Honda’s competition department). Because the LCR team is not just a customer of the HRC, we also receive support from Honda Motor which therefore has a say in the choice of pilots..

Honda gave us a list of names that featured Dovizioso. Unfortunately we weren’t able to meet Andrea’s requirements as he wanted to access the same tech specs as the official RRS. However, we have the same bike as the HRC, but we only receive the latest developments when they have been tested and approved by the official team..

As it did not suit Andrea (who finally preferred to bounce back at Yamaha Tech3, Editor’s note) , we studied the possibility of having Randy run again in our structure. With him, we were guaranteed to have a fast driver and a certain level of results because Randy is arguably one of the most talented drivers I have ever known in my career. But to be completely honest, I received "indications" from Honda who thought it better to set up a project with a young driver over a period of two years, rather than with Randy who had already benefited from this opportunity. Ultimately, Honda did not oblige me to sign Bradl, but we are aware that our structure is small and that to ensure its development, it is better to comply with the requests of our main partner…

M-.N.C. : Stefan Bradl also benefits from the support of a big sponsor with Viessmann, a German heating company. Did it work in his favor ?
L. C. : No, the agreement with Stefan is absolutely not linked to his sponsor. Moreover, Viessmann will no longer support it in 2012 because they prefer to concentrate their communication budgets on winter sports. Now, it is obvious that it would not have displeased me if they came to MotoGP! But I’m pretty proud to be able to say that we never chose a driver just to get a new sponsor..

M-.N.C. : What are your goals in 2012 ?
L. C. : We have to be realistic. There are a few riders who are "monsters" on the MotoGP grid like Stoner, Lorenzo, Pedrosa and – if the Ducati is competitive – Rossi. Just behind there are Ben Spies, Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso: that’s already seven extremely talented drivers. In these conditions, reaching sixth place is already a fantastic result for our structure. Objectively, finishing the championship between sixth and tenth would already be a very good thing, especially since at the start of the season Stefan will perhaps end up in tenth place more often than in sixth..

M-.N.C. : How did you perceive Stefan Bradl during his post-Valencia GP 2011 ?
L. C. : In Valence, we realized that we were dealing with a very intelligent pilot: he is able to explain and share his feelings, to watch and understand the telemetry data but also to express specific requirements. This is something that immediately impressed us.

In addition, he had good lap times for a first MotoGP session: without having to make any big changes to the bike, he turned faster than Toni who has more experience. Above all, we had the satisfaction of seeing that the brakes, tires and suspensions again worked well and that Stefan had acclimated well to the demands of a MotoGP..

According to on-board recordings, it accelerates and brakes at the right times. It just lacked a little velocity in the quickest corners, but that’s perfectly normal: when you’re going over 250 km / h on a motorcycle you don’t know and its tires start to slip, it takes a little experience to understand the limits !

MotoGP performance

Recently, Karel Abraham of the Ducati Cardion AB team leaked technical information on his Ducati GP12 (read). According to the Czech driver, the Desmosedici would develop 250 hp, would be able to cover 0 to 100 km / h in 2.6 seconds and reach 360 km / h.

Asked by MNC, Lucio Cecchinello was more evasive about the performance of the Honda RC213V: the Italian only confirmed to us that the 1000 cc V4 is even more powerful and torquey than the 990 cc V5 of the late RC211V, and that its maximum speed actually flirted with 360 km / h. The team manager told us, however, that the new Honda could undoubtedly shoot down the "0 to 100 km / h" in less than 2 seconds, since Dani Pedrosa has already completed the exercise in 2.05 sec with his official RCV of 800 cc in 2011 !

M-.N.C. : In 2012, motorcycles powered by production engines called Claiming Rule Teams (CRT) will oppose the MotoGP 100% prototypes. What do you think ?
L. C. : We must be realistic. The global economy is doing badly and governments may not be able to afford the pensions of millions of workers … Our sport is very expensive and the companies that support it are reducing their investments because of this crisis. In these conditions, we were forced to find solutions such as CRTs to lower costs in MotoGP, but also to ensure the spectacle during this delicate period. (without the CRTs, the grid would have counted only twelve MotoGP in 2012 with 4 Honda RC213V, 4 Yamaha YZR-M1 and 4 Ducati GP12, NDLR). Having said that, I don’t think CRTs are the future of MotoGP. In my opinion, the future of the premier class goes through MotoGP 100% prototypes subject to more restrictive technical regulations to limit budget increases, just like what is practiced in Formula 1.

This can take the form of a limitation on the number of engines as we have already implemented. (currently six blocks per driver and per season, Editor’s note), but also a limitation of the maximum engine speed, or a restriction of the materials and technologies used.

For example, do we really need engines capable of taking 20,000 rpm thanks to the pneumatic valve return system, when this technology, which is very expensive to develop, will never be transposable on a production motorcycle? It might be better to use all this money to develop developments that benefit the whole community, such as technologies that reduce CO2 emissions and therefore the environmental impact of MotoGP. This would allow manufacturers to rationalize their budgets devoted to research and development, as this would directly benefit their series production..

M-.N.C. : Should this technological restriction also go through the establishment of a single electronic management unit (ECU) for all MotoGP ?
L. C. : Absolutely, and it is also one of the solutions regularly proposed to reduce costs (read in particular, Editor’s note). But this poses a problem for the committed manufacturers, because electronics are today one of the key factors of competitiveness in MotoGP….

M-.N.C. : But if reducing MotoGP technology is complicated and divides opinions, aren’t CRTs the easiest solution to contain costs and fill the grid ?
L. C. : Today, it is true that CRTs are less expensive than a 100% prototype MotoGP. The Suter-BMW (chassis built by Suter and S1000RR engine prepared, like the one piloted by Colin Edwards) costs about half as much as a Ducati GP12 or a Yamaha YZR-M1. And the difference is even greater with the more expensive Honda RC213V (MotoGP would currently be rented between 2 and 2.5 million euros per season to private teams, Editor’s note). But in the future, to be more competitive against MotoGP, the CRT teams will have to develop their machines. For this, they will be forced to make tests to develop their motorcycles, they will have to test and validate different technical solutions, etc. Under these conditions, the price of a CRT will very quickly increase! And if we find ourselves in the near future with a gap of say only 500,000 euros between a CRT and a 100% prototype MotoGP, I’m not sure it’s really worth it….

Interview by Alexandre BARDIN

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