2010 marks the 15th year of participation in the Motorcycle World Championship of the LCR Team and Lucio Cecchinello, its founder, who, over the years, have gathered numerous successes in three different categories. They can pride themselves of several collaborations with top level riders and important technical staff. It was the year 1996 when Lucio decided to start a new adventure setting up his own organisation and holding both roles of rider/manager with the precise intent of building a future for himself in the industry.
In 1998 the LCR team enjoyed the first successes (shared with the team mate and friend Nobby Ueda) and in 2001 Lucio finished the championship in 4th placement riding the Aprilia 125. In 2002 the LCR team lined up 4 riders in two different categories: in the 125cc class Lucio Cecchinello himself scored 3 victories and 2 second placements (4th placement in the final standings) and Alex De Angelis earned his first world championship podium. In the quarter-litre class “someone” named Casey Stoner marked his world championship debut together with David Checa.
In 2003, last year in the race competitions for Lucio, The LCR team, thanks to its newly signed Randy De Puniet, scored 9 podiums, 3 victories and several pole positions in the 250cc finishing in the 4th placement in the final standings while the Australian Stoner finished 9th in his first year in the 125cc class. At the end of 2003 the 3 LCR riders had surprisingly looted: 16 podiums, 6 victories and 6 pole positions. The following year the Frenchman De Puniet continued to ascend the standings in the 250cc class earning the bronze medal behind Porto and Pedrosa and, in the 125cc, Roberto Locatelli (already world champion in the cadet category) achieved the same results finishing behind Barbera and Dovizioso. 2004 was the year of the world championship debut of another talented rider, Mattia Pasini, who earned the Rookie of the Year Award in the category.
In 2005 the LCR team earned the Runner-Up World Championship award in the 250cc class (best result so far achieved) riding the Aprilia thanks to the Australian phenomenon Casey Stoner (together with Locatelli), guarded by Lucio over a number of seasons and who, with the team debut in the queen category the following year, was confirmed by the Team Manager, confident of his potential. This allowed Stoner (riding a Honda RC211V) to earn, in 2006, for the LCR Team, the first pole position and the first podium in the queen category.
In 2007 Stoner was replaced by a more mature rider able to make the most of the full potential of the new RC212V: Carlos Checa scored the 14th placement in the final standings. The same season LCR Team took part to the 250cc World Championship with Eugene Laverty supporting the Rookie project proposed by Honda UK. In 2008 LCR opened his third season in MotoGP class with an “old flame” recovering the talented Randy de Puniet who scored the 15th final position aboard the Honda RC212V.
2009 has been another exciting season and Randy managed to step on the podium in Donington Park, and be on the fourth place in Jerez and he ended up just very close to the top ten, scoring the 11th position, still riding the Honda RC212V
Since 1996, the LCR Team and its riders (counting 256 races) have rewarded their fans with 72 podiums, among which 21 victories and a World Championship Runner-Up Award in the 250cc class.
Enzo Ferrari was right when he used to say: Riders…what strange people!!!
Nobby Ueda: “Crucial. He taught me a lot and he has been an excellent teammate. There was and still is an excellent teamwork: he’s my Japanese brother! A very fast rider and extremely stubborn. When he ran off track in Misano, after 200 metres of tumbling, he head-butted the retaining wall and you can still see the crack in it!”
Alex De Angelis: “When I met him he was still riding in the European championship and I was thrilled by his energy and his commitment despite his very young age. It was a pleasure working with him and having the chance to celebrate together his first world podium. He tied a big flag of San Marino around his neck and, on the podium, with this flag fluttering in the wind like a cloak, he looked like Superman!”
Casey Stoner: “It was impressive the confidence he showed off as a 15-year old boy, when I first met him. Impressive the time of 1’45.8 clocked on 23 January 2002 in Jerez when he was only 16 and debuting with our Aprilia Kit 250cc, within an ace of the official riders. I’d like to unveil a secret: he helped me to take the decision to end my sports career when, in 2003 at half season, he started to be ahead of me. At that very moment I understood the time had come to make way for the young talents, all the more one like this! The most special memory I keep of him is the misadventure occurred in 2006 when he missed his flight in Vienna, then the connecting flight in Dubai and, to prevent the chance of missing a further connection he slept on the floor in the airport next to the check-in desk. Once he got to Doha I went to pick him up from the airport and there was less than half an hour left before the Friday first test session. He put on the race suit, drank an espresso, got on track and clocked the best time”.
Roberto Locatelli: “Winning rider, great professional, excellent test rider, nice and witty as well as a great stand-up comedian during the team dinners. I’m still watching over and over the 2004 backstage DVD with his impersonations that make me die with laughter”.
Mattia Pasini: “This is really a great character! It was a pleasure to lead him into the World Championship and I would have liked to work with him for longer but the Team sponsors preferred to invest their resources in the 250cc project with Loca and Casey. When he scored his first pole at Mugello in 2004 he was so thrilled he looked like he had won the world championship title: unforgettable! I remember him when he was a little boy (about 5 years old) and was knee sliding on the asphalt riding his tiny bicycle…”
Carlos Checa: “His symbol is the Bull and this not a case! He’s a real unflagging “racing animal”. When he’s on the ball he can resist and fight the best riders in the world. Very sensitive on track (excellent test rider) as well as in human relationships. I would have liked to achieve more together with him but it’s not a secret that in 2007 the Team has suffered from a serious technical gap compared to the official ones. If I think that we started our sports career together in the same period (end of 80s beginning of 90s) and now he’s still riding and battling against the top riders of SBK, I cannot help feeling deep admiration for his firm determination”.
Eugene Laverty: “Eugene took part to a Rookie project endorsed by Honda UK and it has been a pleasure to give our support. On his debut in the World Championship, considering the 18 official bikes in the line-up, he did a good job scoring on several occasions. And today, watching him winning in the Super Sport World Championship makes me feel proud of having contributed to his growth. Eugene is a great rider but when he drives a car he’s worse than my aunt!”
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