LCR Honda 2021

The LCR Team (Lucio Cecchinello Racing) was born in 1996 when Lucio decided to establish his own Team following the footsteps of other racing champions who successfully done the same thing. Simply starting with two mechanics and one van, over the years the LCR Team continued to grow turning into a high-profile team that has experienced great success.

After nine years in 125cc class and five years in 250cc class, LCR has also competed in the MotoGP class since 2006 with two riders and more than 50 highly qualified collaborators. LCR have also joined the MotoE category with two riders.

The LCR Team has lined up with the most talented riders of the international field such as Nobby Ueda, Alex De Angelis, Mattia Pasini, Randy De Puniet, Roberto Locatelli, Carlos Checa, Casey Stoner, Stefan Bradl, Jack Miller, Cal Crutchlow and many others with more than 600 races held in the four different categories.

85 podiums, 24 victories, 2 “Rookie of the Year”, 1 Runner-Up Award and the Best Independent Team Rider awards are the maximum expression of the daily work conducted by Lucio and the Team members during 25 years of competition.

2021 will see Alex Marquez join Takaaki Nakagami in the LCR Honda garage but with two different sponsors the bikes take on very different looks.   Alex in Castrol colours while Taka fields the colours of Japanese energy company Idemitsu.

Takaaki Nakagami Profile

Bio Born in Chiba (Japan) on February 9, 1992, Nakagami joined the Japanese Road Race Championship in the GP125 category in 2005 and in 2006 became the youngest ever winner of the Japanese 125cc Championship. The same year he also joined the MotoGP Academy which gave him the chance to compete overseas for the first time in the CEV (Spanish) 125GP series. In 2007 he decided to focus on the CEV 125GP championship (under the Academy banner) and had the chance to compete as a wildcard in 125cc World Championship at the final round in Valencia.

He impressed enough to secure a full-time ride in the 125cc World Championship in 2008, joining the Italian I.C. Team riding an Aprilia and he continued in the Championship in 2009 with Ongetta I.S.P.A. Aprilia. Despite having offers to remain in the 125cc championship in 2010, Nakagami decided to return to Japan and re-join the Harc-Pro team (with Honda) for 2 years winning the Japanese Moto2 title in 2011 was drafted in by the Italtrans Team at the Japan GP as a substitute rider.

The team offered him a fulltime seat for 2012, and in 2013 just missed out on a maiden race victory on numerous occasions – not least when he scored four consecutive second place finishes in the middle of the season. He switched to Idemitsu Honda Team Asia in 2014, but he had to wait until the following year to return to the podium with third in Misano. He remained with the team in 2016 and took his first win in Assen at the Dutch GP, and by the end of 2017 had garnered eight podiums and two poles.

For 2018 Nakagami graduated to the premier class to ride with LCR Honda IDEMITSU and was the best qualifying rookie with several appearances in Q2. Nakagami got his best result at the last round in Valencia crossing the line in 6th position (Best Independent Rider of the Spanish round) and was impressive in winter testing.

He stayed with LCR Honda IDEMITSU in 2019 alongside his team-mate Cal Crutchlow, noticing the best finish of 5th in the Italian GP (Best Independent Rider of the round in Mugello). Unfortunately, his season saw an early end as he had to take a difficult decision to undergo shoulder surgery right after his home GP in Motegi, just to be sure he is fully fit for the upcoming 2020 season.

Nakagami showed great consistency in 2020 and made important progress. He achieved his first ever pole position in MotoGP at Aragon and he finished the Championship, 10th overall. In 2021, his fifth year in MotoGP, Taka will be riding a full factory spec bike, alongside new team-mate Alex Marquez.

Alex Marquez – Profile

Born on April 23, 1996 in Lleida, Alex Márquez has lived surrounded by motorcycles practically from very early on in his life and found himself fascinated with everything related to the world of two wheels.

When he was little, he wanted to be a mechanic for his brother, but he soon realised that he also wanted to take the handlebar and squeeze the throttle to the maximum.

There are few combinations more infallible than talent, work and humility to end up being a great rider. But if you also add a family passionate about motorcycles and a brother, Marc, who has been breaking barriers in all the competitions he has gone through, it is evident that the fate of Alex Márquez would lead him sooner or later to shine and become a name in motorcycling.

At eight years old, Alex had already started competing and fighting for victory in the 50cc PromoRacc and followed him up with the Catalan Championship title. He progressively burned stages until his debut in 2010 in the Campeonato de España de Velocidad. In 2012 he achieved the 125cc Spanish Championship in the CEV and in 2013 he already did his first full World Championship in Moto3.

From here on, the story of Alex Márquez is well known, two-time World Champion with the Moto3 Titles in 2014 and Moto2 in 2019. At the end of 2019, he joined the Repsol Honda Team with his brother Marc Márquez as a teammate for the 2020 season. On his first year in the premier class, Alex claimed back-to-back second places in the French and Aragon GPs. He narrowly missed out on the Rookie of the Year award, ending 14th overall.

In 2021, Alex Márquez will continue being a Honda rider, this time with the LCR Honda CASTROL Team in the year that marks it’s 25th anniversary of participation in the MotoGP World Championship.