LCR Team Owner Lucio Cecchinello, along with Johann Zarco, have a clear plan for the last two MotoGP events of the year. First, the Le Mans GP winner will probably improve from 12th in the World Championship standings and enter the Top 10. Secondly, the French rider will probably successfully defend his position as the best Honda rider in the World Championship standings against Luca Marini and Joan Mir. In Portimão, Zarco scored three points for his 7th place in the Sprint and seven points for his 9th place on Sunday, increasing the gap with Luca Marini, the second-best Honda rider in the championship, who went from eight to eleven points.
However, this mediocre performance didn't move Zarco from his 12th place in the championship standings. He now has 144 points, while Raúl Fernández and Brad Binder are just ahead of him in 10th and 11th place with 146 and 145 points, respectively.
At least the LCR MotoE team, with Mattia Casadei and Eric Granado, secured two second-place finishes in the two races in Portugal in the championship finale. The duo secured 2nd and 4th place in the final World Championship standings.
Cecchinello, however, also celebrated the victory of Moto2 rider Diogo Moreira, who now leads the World Championship standings by a virtually insurmountable 24 points over Gonzalez and will be joining the LCR Honda MotoGP team in 2026, succeeding a disappointing Somkiat Chantra.
The Thai rider was a fallback solution for HRC because Ai Ogura opted for Trackhouse Aprilia after winning the Moto2 title a year ago, and Nakagami was dropped by HRC as a regular MotoGP rider after seven years without a podium finish.
But Chantra entered the premier class as the 12th-placed rider in the 2024 Moto2 World Championship, following only two Moto2 GP victories in Mandalika in 2022 and Motegi in 2023. His best overall Moto2 World Championship finishes were 10th (2022) and 6th (2023).
Cecchinello recognized Chantra's weaknesses after the first three Grand Prixs this year. Today, the 56-year-old team owner spoke about the almost 27-year-old Thai rider and said, "Chantra is a typical example of a rider who needs time to learn and adapt to a new category. Other riders pick up the techniques of MotoGP riding more quickly. This doesn't mean that riders like Chantra are slower, but they need a longer adjustment period. I know what I'm talking about because it took me five years to achieve my first 125cc GP victory."
On the other hand, it took Raúl Fernández four years to celebrate his first MotoGP victory in 2025 in Australia on the Trackhouse Aprilia. In his Moto2 rookie season, the talented Spanish rider won eight World Championship races, one more than Marc Márquez did in his first year in the intermediate class in 2011.
There's much to suggest that the 21-year-old Brazilian Diogo Moreira is a completely different caliber of rider. He finished 8th in the Moto3 World Championship in 2023. In his first Moto3 season in 2024, he stormed to a strong 3rd place in the finale in Valencia, finishing 13th overall. In 2025, he achieved a breakthrough in the fight against much more experienced opponents like Canet, Dixon, González, and Baltus: four wins, three second-place finishes, five fourth-place finishes, and only three out of 21 races without scoring points. The World Championship standings before Valencia werew: 1. Moreira: 281, 2. Gonzalez. 257, 3. Baltus: 232, 4. Canet: 226, 5. Dixon: 215.
“Honda’s original plan was to bring Ai Ogura into MotoGP in 2025,” Cecchinello explained in an interview with GPone.com. “Ogura was intended as Nakagami’s logical successor, but he had other plans. There was then the option of having Taka for an eighth year or giving Chantra a new opportunity. And, sometimes, manufacturers have to consider commercial interests alongside their motorsport program. That’s normal, and so Chantra was chosen in the hope that he'd quickly adapt to the MotoGP. He then developed compartmental syndrome in his arm and a knee ligament injury, which were obviously not helpful for his learning process. That’s why Honda has now decided to bring Chantra into the Superbike World Championship and Moreira into MotoGP. It’s not out of the question that Chantra will eventually return to the MotoGP if he performs well in the SBK.”
Moreira’s track record fuels the hope that he's significantly more talented than Chantra. Next week, he'll make his debut on the RC213V at Tuesday's test in Valencia.
"I truly admire Moreira's natural talent," Cecchinello admitted. "He's really fast on any bike, including motocross, supermoto, and flat track. He can ride any bike as fast as the best riders in the world. His speed is very impressive. This year, he established himself as the best Moto2 World Championship rider during the crucial phase. Now, everyone expects a great MotoGP career from him. But I don't want to raise expectations too high for his first year, because the MotoGP is a really complex and difficult category."
However, there have always been talented riders who celebrated MotoGP victories in their first year, from Rossi and Lorenzo to Binder and Aldeguer, while Miller, Oliveira, Mir, Di Giannantonio, Quartararo, and Bezzecchi won in the second year, Morbidelli and Bagnaia in the third, Alex Márquez and Crutchlow in the sixth, and Zarco in the seventh.
"I know that some have already won in their first year in the MotoGP and, of course, I hope that will happen with Diogo as well," Cecchinello said. "I hope that he quickly adapts to this class, realizes his great potential, and can keep up with the other HRC riders in 2026. But we've seen that Ai Ogura was incredibly fast in the Moto2. He then had a strong MotoGP debut this year but, afterwards, he suffered some setbacks and experienced firsthand how demanding the MotoGP is. Aldeguer is a super strong rider, he deserves respect, but all the Ducati riders have a slight technical advantage."
All LCR Honda MotoGP riders
2006
Casey Stoner (AUS)
2007
Carlos Checa (E)
2008
Randy De Puniet (F)
2009
Randy De Puniet (F)
2010
Randy De Puniet (F)
2011
Casey Stoner (AUS)
2012
Stefan Bradl (D)
2013
Stefan Bradl (D)
2014
Stefan Bradl (D)
2015
Cal Crutchlow (GB), Jack Miller (AUS)
2016
Cal Crutchlow (GB)
2017
Cal Crutchlow (GB)
2018
Cal Crutchlow (GB), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2019
Cal Crutchlow (GB), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2020
Cal Crutchlow (GB), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2021
Alex Marquez (E), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2022
Alex Marquez (E), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2023
Alex Rins (E), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2024
Johann Zarco (F), Takaaki Nakagami (J)
2025
Johann Zarco (F), Somkiat Chantra (THA)
2026
Johann Zarco (F), Diogo Moreira (BR)