        2021 was a complicated season in terms for results for all the Honda bikes essentially. If it wasn&rsquo;t for Marc Marquez&rsquo;s three wins, ir would have been a decidedly negative season for the Tokyo manufacturer, which struggled more than expected with its other riders. Team LCR was no exception, its riders Nakagami and Marquez rounding out the season in 15th and 16th place. A regression with respect to 2020, when the Japanese rider was often fast, finishing top five on four occasions and setting a pole position. While the Spaniard, competing for the factory team that year, scored two consecutive second-place finishes at the end of the season, which had us thinking that he&rsquo;d be playing a starring role in 2021. Many difficulties in 2022, and a best result of fourth  The championship proved to be an uphill climb for Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s team, Alex Marquez and Nakagami unable to replicate and build upon their performance during the final races of the previous season. For the Japanese rider, 2022 will be fundamental. Now in his fifth season in the top class, he has always been a fast rider, but he&rsquo;s often missing that final push, that step up in quality that would allow him to be a top five regular. Dorna has always been keen to have at least one Japanese rider on the grid, but it&rsquo;s also true that Nakagami won't be able to keep a sought-after seat like that of Team LCR forever - he'll definitely need to obtain results this coming season. Alex Marquez&rsquo;s situation is slightly different. Marc&rsquo;s brother has age on his side, but the 2021 season didn&rsquo;t live up to expectations and his seat might also be in jeopardy, if he doesn&rsquo;t make that step up in terms of quality. More than once, Marquez has shown that he knows how to ride the Honda, but he&rsquo;s often lacking consistency, and confidence too. The Spaniard&rsquo;s best result of the year was a fourth-place finish at the penultimate Portimao round. The same result as his team-mate, fourth at Jerez, a decidedly meagre &lsquo;best&rsquo; for them both. Honda needs to step it up  Having said all this, the Honda hasn&rsquo;t exactly proved to be the easiest bike to ride. Many have struggled, and only Marc Marquez has succeeded, despite his well-documented physical problems, competitive to such an extent that he was able to win three races. For the other "Hondisti" though, the situation was complex in terms of results. Only the eight-time champ reached the podium, with not even Pol Espargar&oacute;, on the other factory Honda, able to do the same, the Spaniard forced to settle for just one pole position. 2022 remains an unknown for now. At the recent tests at Jerez, the bike appeared to have made progress in terms of its handling, but then the other manufacturers are not standing idly by either. Ducati (which will have eight bikes on the grid next year) but also Yamaha and Suzuki have clearly demonstrated that they intend to make further progress. Translated by Heather Watson Bastianini: &ldquo;When you come to MotoGP, it&rsquo;s like starting over from scratch&rdquo;       

<p>A year short on results for Lucio Cecchinello&rsquo;s team, the Spaniard and the Japanese rider having never reached the podium</p>

MotoGP: a disappointing 2021 for team LCR, but Marquez and Nakagami are reconfirmed

Alex Marquez&rsquo;s performance throughout 2021 falls well below expectations. The 54 points he&rsquo;s scored thus far, with a sixth-place finish at Le Mans his best result, serve as numerical proof of the difficulties the Spaniard has had during his first season with Team LCR.  The podiums he scored in 2020, during his debut MotoGP season with the Repsol team, augered well but the rider has not been able to find the necessary consistency since then.  Too many DNFs   What&rsquo;s particularly surprising is the number of crashes the Spaniard has suffered. He even fractured a foot during an incident at the Qatar tests, a symptom of the fact he&rsquo;s never found the right feeling with the Honda RC213V.  &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel comfortable like I did during the final part of last season&rdquo;, Marquez told the &lsquo;Sport&rsquo; publication mid-season. &ldquo;Starting the year with so many crashes affects your confidence and you can&rsquo;t fully exploit the bike. We made a change to the electronics during the Jerez tests which really set us back. We then started to improve but need to find that turning point so that we can be as competitive as we can be and need to be&rdquo;. A path he is apparently still to embark upon, considering recent results.  At Austin, Alex crossed the line in twelfth place, almost 25 seconds from brother Marc and just behind the other factory Honda ridden by Pol Espargar&oacute;, who finished tenth.  A bike that only works in Marc&rsquo;s hands   Aside from the difficulties experienced by the youngest Marquez brother, during what is his second year in the top class, we need only look at the overall standings to see how the Iwata riders are struggling right now. Takaaki Nagakami has scored 70 points, as has Espargar&oacute;. The only saving grace for the Japanese is in fact Marc, with two wins and 117 points, which see him place seventh in the championship.  Numbers that explain just how #93 is able to make the difference, despite citing the difficulties of a bike that is not at the level of the Yamaha or the Ducati.  Power is nothing without control   &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t deny that we need to improve the bike. We have four riders and, aside from Marc who was injured, the others aren&rsquo;t achieving results either&rdquo;, Alberto Puig recently told &lsquo;AS&rsquo;.  A change that all the Honda riders are keen for, not least Alex Marquez who continues to battle with the powerful but aggressive nature of the Japanese four-cylinder, the rider unable to transfer all the power to the rear wheel. A situation that doesn&rsquo;t allow for sufficient grip, which results in the many crashes we mentioned above.  Technical improvement is clearly required but the rider needs to take a good step forward too if we want to see Alex Marquez back where he was late last year. The new Honda that will debut in 2022 could serve as a partial solution to the problems.  Translated by Heather Watson  MotoGP, Suzuki needs something new... and if it were to start with the riders? 

<p>Too many crashes, various difficulties and few results &ndash; this is how we might sum up Alex Marquez&rsquo;s MotoGP season aboard a Honda that only brother Marc knows how to tame</p> 

2 risultati per 'EN team lcr'

MotoGP: a disappointing 2021 for team LCR, but Marquez and Nakagami are reconfirmed

MotoGP, Alex Marquez: a 2021 in free fall