LCR Honda is one of the privateeer MotoGP teams that often changes it’s liveries during the season depending on the sponsors that they have.

Last season we saw the Playboy livery which was a big hit, along with the grid girls decked out as Playboy bunnies, Radio Montecarlo, GIVI, and ELF liveries. While eye catching liveries won’t make you win, they are important to fans and sponsors who pay to see their product’s name on the TV screen and changing the graphics on a bike isn’t just slapping on a couple of stickers, the process is complex and as team owner and manager Lucio Cecchinello confirms in this interview:

“After having set the contracts with our supporters, we usually start working on the bike layout fixing the logos dimensions and positioning together with a main colour which will stand out our bike image amongst the others. In 2006 we created a special Australian livery for Stoner and that was a very successful feedback for us. Recently we have focused our work on the number plate using the fluo colour and last year we have prepared a special layout for the wheels colour. Together with the Graphic Department we study several combinations to make the bike more attractive and more visible on TV.”

Continue reading: How LCR Honda Liveries are Created

As soon as the racing season is over most riders head to their surgeons to remove all the hardware they’ve been carrying after injuries, that keeps them together and in condition to compete.

Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo underwent surgery last week to remove a plate from his collarbone that he had since 2005 and LCR Honda’s Randy De Puniet also went under the knife again, to remove the screws that were inserted in his ankle after fracturing it in a motocross training accident.

Well… It has been a very quick and easy operation. After the crash in August I worked hard to get the best from the bike but sometimes it has been very painful for me. After the races my ankle was always very swollen but now I am very satisfied because the size is normal. I am going to remove the stitches in 18 days and after that will begin my rehabilitation training to be in good form at Sepang in February.”

Source | lcr

Continue reading: Randy DePuniet undergoes Surgery

Alex DeAngelis still hasn’t lost hope in finding a ride in MotoGP next season. DeAngelis finished eighth in the standings and was in negotiations with Scot Racing, but the team had to withdraw from the premier class, as the team and rider were unable to find sufficient backing in time to meet Honda’s deadline.

According to Italian motograndprix website, LCR Honda owner Lucio Cecchinello, could be interested in expanding his team to a two rider outfit and putting the Sammarinese rider on a second bike next to the already confirmed Randy DePuniet.

The only other alternative for DeAngelis, who wants to stay in grandprix racing is Moto2, where he has numerous offers including one from Sito Pons’ Kalex team.

UPDATED:

DeAngelis is out of luck, and will have to give up any hope of riding in MotoGP in 2010, because Lucio Cecchinello speaking to the Radio Television station of San Marino has said:

“I’m very sorry because Alex deserved to stay in MotoGP. Honda has told me that there isn’t enough time to prepare a new bike and above all we haven’t found the necessary financial coverage.”

Continue reading: MotoGP – Alex DeAngelis in LCR Honda?

Randy de Puniet has re-signed with the LCR Honda team for the 2010 MotoGP World Championship.

De Puniet, had a reputation as a crasher and held the unenviable record of having the most crashes for two years running, has shown a big improvement this year. The Frenchman is currently tied in the standings with Alex DeAngelis for 8th place, with 88 points and is so far the top satellite Honda rider this season, with a 3rd place podium at Donington Park.

Randy DePuniet:

“The 2010 season will be my fifth year in the MotoGP class; Honda is working hard to improve the RCV machine and the LCR Team is very professional and they are like a family for me. We have got the potential to make positive results and we will try again!”

Lucio Cecchinello Team Manager :

“We are very happy to work with Randy next year. He still has a lot of potential and our aim was to continue the project we started together in MotoGP in 2008. Honestly I am very confident of what we can achieve in 2010: we will work with the same style and with the same determination to make a step up in the quality of our organization and our on-track performances”.

Continue reading: Randy de Puniet re-signs with LCR Honda

For our motorcycle pic of the day, today we give you this x-ray photo of Randy de Puniet’s ankle from our friends at Motosblog. Despite his injury, he is still racing for Lucio Cecchinello’s LCR Honda team, which hopes to re-sign Puniet for another season contract.

After a third place at Donington, and 12th on the weekend at Indianapolis, Puniet sustained his injury about a month ago during motocross training. However contract negotiations between Honda and Puniet are set to be completed sometime before the Misano race on September 13th. We wish him all the best, especially considering the x-ray. How many pins can you fit in one ankle?!

Send your funny, bizarre or surprising pics to us and we’ll post them, with your name. We’d love to share what you guys find in the world of motorcycling! Send to: pics@twowheelsblog.com.

Continue reading: Randy de Puniet's ankle: the x-ray

Another rider has suffered an injury while training, this time it’s Randy de Puniet. The French rider for LCR Honda who took a fantastic third place at Donington, was motocross training with his personal trainer Yves Demaria (a three-time FIM Motorcross champion) when he crashed on a corner, hurting his ankle.

Taken to the hospital in Aix en Provence, x-rays revealed a fractured left ankle. DePuniet underwent surgery to insert a screw into his ankle and left the hospital on Monday and will meeting with the Clinica Mobile doctors to start his rehabilitation therapy.

De Puniet stated:

“Yves and I have a specific training programme to improve my performance on track this year. This programme has helped me a lot so far and through the summer break I didn’t want to stop training. So we went out to do a short motocross session, but unfortunately I had a fall and the impact on the ground caused a fracture of the left ankle.I am very disappointed about this setback but training is very important for me in order to be in good shape in MotoGP. I will do my best to race in Brno and I am sure that the Clinica Mobile staff will support me in the best way.”

DePuniet is currently 8th in the MotoGP championship standings and is linked for a place in Herve Poncharal’s Yamaha Tech 3 team in 2010.

Continue reading: Randy de Puniet breaks ankle, Brno in doubt

In these past few years we’ve heard that satellite teams in MotoGP are struggling to make ends meet and with the global economic woes we’ve seen a team like Kawasaki pull out of MotoGP, Scot Racing dump Yuki Takahashi with absolutely no qualms for sponsor rich Gabor Talmacsi and last and probably not least, Sete Gibernau’s team Grupo Francisco Hernando drop out of MotoGP in the middle of the season.

So in the middle of all these difficulties what has HRC decided to do for the 2010? Up its prices, naturally.

Honda has decided to raise its leasing costs for all the satellite teams and advised their clients during last week’s Sachsenring round. They’re talking about € 200,000 more than last year and that will take the cost of leasing two bikes and spares from Honda to a cool € 2.000.000, and that is a lot of cash for team managers like Fausto Gresini, Lucio Cecchinello and Cirano Mularoni. Many private teams get some monetary help from Dorna, but for the rest they have scrape by searching for as many sponsors as they can.

You have to wonder if Honda’s move is wise in these troubled times, and if a customer RCV is really worth € 2.000.000, when it has 800 rpm less than the official bike and especially when you have to give it back to Honda at the end of the season to be destroyed under a hydraulic press.

Continue reading: Honda HRC raises its prices

Randy DePuniet was the surprise in today’s free practice at Assen when he hit the top of the timesheets clocking in at 1.37.842.
The Frenchman’s LCR Honda donned a pair of soft tires in the final minutes of the practice and taking a tow from Chris Vermeulen, bumped off Valentino Rossi from the top of the charts by 0.005s.

Casey Stoner was 3rd just 0.035 off DePuniet, putting in more runs than he usual does, while Jorge Lorenzo was fourth.

Andrea Dovizioso fifth, using the Honda chassis that he tested at Barcelona and team mate Dani Pedrosa, who is still recovering from a cracked bone was sixth.

Colin Edwards who was running first during the middle stages of the practice was seventh, but only 0.363s from today’s leader.

Chris Vermeulen eighth, James Toseland ninth, and looking a little more confortable on his Bridgestone tires while Loris Capirossi closed the top ten, less than 6 tenths of second from DePuniet.

Continue reading: MotoGP Assen FP1 - Randy DePuniet Surprise

Check out our Mugello grid girl gallery. You can also see a couple of pics from the party that LCR Honda and Playboy held in Florence last Thursday and the girls that they picked out as their brolly bunnies walking around the Mugello paddock. Niccolò Canepa’s umbrella girl was also picked out from the party that Pramac Racing held in Florence.

Even if she isn’t in the gallery, you may have noticed on TV that Isabella Massi was back holding her umbrella over Valentino Rossi. Isabella and her boyfriend Severino run the restaurant hospitality during the European Gran Prix rounds and recently Isabella had their first baby, so we like to say congratulations to the proud parents.

MotoGP Mugello Brolly Girls

Continue reading: MotoGP Mugello Grid Girls

These two Playboy Bunnies must have had an excellent effect on Randy DePuniet, who qualified 5th yesterday, less that 2 tenths from 4th place Valentino Rossi.

Continue reading: Randy DePuniet's Bunnies

A few of the brolly girls at the MotoGP night race in Losail, Qatar. Most of you guys probably noticed that Randy de Puniet’s
Honda’s livery was not sporting their new Playboy logo, but Radio Monte Carlo.

Lucio Cecchinello was advised by local authorities that the use of the Playboy brand in the Middle Eastern country would be frowned upon, so we’ll have to wait and see if a few bunnies show up at Motegi.

Brolly Girls from Qatar MotoGP

Continue reading: Umbrella Chicks from Qatar MotoGP

Lucio Cecchinello has confirmed that sponsorship deal with Playboy has gone through and this gallery of photos proves it. The Playboy logo will be on Randy DePuniet’s LCR Honda’s livery and leathers starting this weekend at the IRTA tests and during the Spanish and Japanese GP’s.

Here’s what Cecchinello had to say:

“We have been in touch with Playboy US for a long time and, taking advantage of the opportunity given by the presence of some American top executives part of Hugh Hefner entourage during his latest visit to Europe, we have defined the guidelines of a project allowing us to start negotiations with some of this evergreen brand’s global licensees. Playboy Italy has positively assessed the project and confirmed the sponsorship for the early stage of the season (MotoGP Championship Launch during the tests in Jerez de la Frontera, GP in Japan and Spain as Title Sponsor, GP in Qatar…unfortunately, we all know the kind of problems for that) linking it to their activities in the view of relaunching the magazine in Italy. Currently, there are further ongoing negotiations with licensees in more countries, who have been presented with our “projects by event” concept, which does not imply any millionaire investments”.

Aldo Drudi is the designer of this livery and you can check out Italy’s Playboy website to see even more hotter photos here and backstage videos and also see LCR Honda revamped website.

Continue reading: Playboy and LCR Honda