LCR Honda’s 2010 prospects with Cecchinello

Randy de Puniet equalled his best-ever finish to a season in MotoGP this year with 11th position, and his LCR Honda team manager Lucio Cecchinello believes the Frenchman is well placed to better that in 2010.

A series of good finishes peaked with De Puniet’s first and only podium of the season in round 10 at Donington, which took him up to eighth in the standings. However, a training accident after the British Grand Prix left the 28 year-old with a broken ankle which required screws to be inserted, and while De Puniet managed to ride through the pain for the remainder of the season his form suffered as a result, thus depriving him of a higher overall finish.

De Puniet was involved in a tight battle for seventh place in the MotoGP standings until the end of the season, and the form displayed by him this year has led Cecchinello to aim high for the new campaign.

“We are quite happy with the results, because we definitely improved,” said Cecchinello. “We had a good chance to put in good performances, especially when we made the podium in the British GP, so we are quite happy.”

“This year we had the chance to finish, let’s say, as the best independent team in the rankings. We had a couple of crashes and Randy broke his ankle in August so we didn’t achieve our objective. Definitely next year we would like to be the first independent team in the ranking.”