        During Autolook Week, in which he was presented with a &ldquo;Hall of Fame MotoGP Award&rdquo; together with other Suzuki greats and put on a show aboard the 500 two-stroke, we exchanged a few words with Marco Lucchinelli. The 1981 world champion, who always speaks his mind, offered his views on the current world championship season before also touching on his own return to the saddle. Lucchinelli: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand Suzuki&rsquo;s decision&rdquo;  One of the year&rsquo;s most shocking headlines relates to the factory Suzuki team and its decision to withdraw at the end of the season. Something that &ldquo;Lucky&rdquo; struggles to comprehend: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t understand the reasoning behind this choice. It&rsquo;s right to focus on production bikes, but this isn&rsquo;t the first time Suzuki has withdrawn from a major world championship and I think it&rsquo;s a mistake.&rdquo; &ldquo;They won the world championship two years ago, have never had such a competitive bike as the GSX-RR and they're pulling out? In my opinion, this was the ideal time to invest and focus on one of the two riders to continue to win and be fast&rdquo;, continues Marco. &ldquo;They made the same move in Superbike a few years back, but I hope this proves to the right decision for the future of the brand.&rdquo; &ldquo;It seems they&rsquo;re doing all they can to have Bagnaia win&rdquo;  There is then talk of the current championship, where Quartararo leads but Bagnaia continues to close in: &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great championship this year and I hope it&rsquo;s won by the rider who deserves it, thanks only to their potential and technical package, without team orders or anything like that. It seems like they&rsquo;re doing everything - I won&rsquo;t say who - to have Bagnaia win, but I hope that he and Fabio can battle it out on equal terms until the end of the year.&rdquo; Lastly, Lucchinelli tells us about his experience of the Moto Guzzi Fast Endurance, which saw him race at Mugello: &ldquo;It was something really different, but a lot of fun too. Riding a bike with as little power as the Guzzi V7, Mugello is like another track entirely, but to be competitive you need to be brave, because it&rsquo;s not easy to tackle the Arrabbiate turns, throttle wide open, and then brake just a few metres from the turn and let the bike run. I liked it, it was an experience I&rsquo;d like to repeat in the future&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson Down to Moto2: Darryn Binder to race with Intact GP       

The 1981 world champion offers his views on the current season: &ldquo;It was a time for Suzuki to invest, not withdraw&rdquo;

Exclusive, Lucchinelli: “May the most deserving rider win MotoGP, although...”

        Last Sunday saw Valentino Rossi begin his 26th season, at 42 years of age, and his performance didn&rsquo;t exactly set the world alight. The Italian finished the race twelfth, which has Marco Luccinelli believing that he has had his day. The former rider voices his opinion on the eve of round 2, where Rossi will do his best to make up for his last outing. "He races only to finish"  The former 500 rider, interviewed by Lapresse, comments: &ldquo;Rossi was something new in the world championship, a different way of racing, a martian, a genius. But now he&rsquo;s returned to earth and there&rsquo;s no need for excuses. It&rsquo;s time to make way for the youngsters. Without taking anything away from the nine-time champion, enough is enough&rdquo;. And Lucchinelli doesn&rsquo;t stop there: &ldquo;He&rsquo;s keeping that bike from a young rider. He hasn&rsquo;t won a race for more than three years and his last title was in 2009. He&rsquo;s always raced to win but now he&rsquo;s racing only to finish&rdquo;. Rossi no longer a title contender?  Nothing personal though: &ldquo;I have no issue with Valentino, but with those who continue to find excuses for him. A generational turnover has happened around him. I think he wants to do better and he&rsquo;s far from slow. But the youngsters have that little extra that makes the difference. He&rsquo;s become the target, the rider the youngsters want to beat&rdquo;. Lucchinelli admits that he wouldn&rsquo;t miss him: &ldquo;The championship won&rsquo;t lose its appeal without him. The others put on a show too. And today&rsquo;s bikes don&rsquo;t seem that hard to ride because even the rookies are immediately fast. Once upon a time you&rsquo;d break bones for three years before being quick. To win one race ok, but to win a title, he'd have to stop many riders&rdquo;. Translated by Heather Watson Doha MotoGP, the stats: Yamaha the most successful in Qatar       

Speaking his mind, the former 500 champion talks about Valentino and his chances of winning the title again

MotoGP, Lucchinelli: “Valentino Rossi? Make way for the youngsters”

Marco Lucchinelli was world champion with Suzuki in 1981, having won five races. Since then, few others have been able secure the title on the white and blue bike. There was Franco Uncini, in 1982, and then, many years later, Kevin Schwantz, in 1993. It was another seven years before Kenny Roberts jr. lifted the trophy. And not until now, 20 years later, does Suzuki find itself back on top of the world, thanks to Joan Mir, guided by Davide Brivio.  &quot;Well done Mir and Morbidelli&quot;   We asked Marco Lucchinelli what he thinks of this first Suzuki title in so many years.  &ldquo;I was quite pleased, in that I have great memories of Suzuki of course. And they&rsquo;ve done a good job, the team&rsquo;s worked well, the bike is proof of this. They believed and they did it. Mir has done well to win the title and the others let him take it&hellip; Dovizioso, Miller, all the Yamaha guys, from Quartararo to Vinales, they should be a little ashamed. At least the Yamaha has won a race with each rider, except Valentino.  &ldquo;Aside from Mir, I&rsquo;ve liked Morbidelli, he&rsquo;s taken a step up in terms of quality. I don&rsquo;t know what he&rsquo;ll do in the future, but if I&rsquo;m not mistaken he&rsquo;s on what should be a privateer bike, not that of Valentino or Vi&ntilde;ales, but that of the year before&hellip; You see, I&rsquo;m good, I like old bikes.&rdquo;  &quot;Iannone? They&rsquo;ve castrated him&quot;   It&rsquo;s been a bit of a strange world championship&hellip; What do you think?  &ldquo;Yes, we&rsquo;ve seen it all, from the dangerous Austria track, to Yamaha&rsquo;s decision to open the engines, to Iannone&rsquo;s disqualification. They&rsquo;ve castrated him, poor guy, as if he were responsible for COVID. His only defect is that he likes hot girls and drives a Bentley, but he knows how to open the throttle and I don&rsquo;t think they should castrate a person just because he plumps his lips&hellip;. Because that&rsquo;s aesthetics. On the bike, you&rsquo;ve either got it or you haven&rsquo;t. There are no substances that make you faster, if there were, I&rsquo;d know about them. Giving him a four-year ban seems over the top. It would have been fairer to give him a 100,000 euro fine to donate to the fight against Coronavirus&hellip;  &ldquo;Do you remember when Fenati touched Manzi&#39;s brake, and it looked like they&rsquo;d disqualify him for life? And Manzi played the goody-goody, saying &lsquo;Fenati wanted to kill me&rsquo;. Now there&rsquo;s an image doing the rounds on the internet of Manzi kicking a rider&hellip; (Hector Garz&ograve;, in second free practice at the Valencia GP). So, punishment is needed but without exaggerating, and we shouldn&rsquo;t be pleased when things happen to others because these can always come back around&rdquo;.  A world championship without Marquez   Do you think Mir can win again next year?  &ldquo;World championships are world championships and if you win, no one can take that away from you, but this isn&rsquo;t like the championship I won, winning five races, or like that won by other riders, Franco (Uncini) for example&hellip; Mir won this championship because he has a great bike and has been consistent. We can&rsquo;t take away his merits, but there was no Marc Marquez, and he remains the man to beat, the reference. If you win a championship by beating him it&rsquo;s one thing, it you win it because he&rsquo;s not there&hellip;. Well, you&rsquo;re good, and perhaps you&rsquo;d have won anyway, but it&rsquo;s still a championship in which Marquez didn&rsquo;t feature&quot;.  &ldquo;Marquez has been the only thorn in Dovizioso&rsquo;s side, the Italian finishing second on three occasions&hellip; And if I&rsquo;d had to bet this year, I&rsquo;d have gone for Dovizioso, over Rossi, because without the man to beat, they should have stood out. And yet they didn&rsquo;t. But Mir did well, so all credit to him. And his mum&rsquo;s great too&hellip; why didn&rsquo;t I grow up with friends like him? With a mum like that at home&hellip;&rdquo; concludes Lucchinelli with irony, referring to the undeniable beauty of Mrs. Mir.  Translated by Heather Watson  Career at risk for Marquez? Dr. Costa: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to consider it, but...&rdquo; 

&ldquo;All world championships are world championships, but this is not like the one I won&hellip; If I&rsquo;d had to bet? I&rsquo;d have gone for Dovizioso or Rossi&rdquo;, the 1981 world champ tells us

3 risultati per 'EN Marco lucchinelli'

Exclusive, Lucchinelli: “May the most deserving rider win MotoGP, although...”

MotoGP, Lucchinelli: “Valentino Rossi? Make way for the youngsters”

Exclusive, Lucchinelli: “Mir has won, but the others should be ashamed…”