LCR Honda Team Manager Lucio Cecchinello has been speaking about his squad's future on Friday at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix after it was confirmed that his 2023 race-winning rider, Alex Rins, will become a Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ rider in 2024.
"We knew that if Alex received an offer from a factory team this could happen," said Cecchinello during MotoGP™ Practice at Silverstone. "And now we are dedicating ourselves to evaluating the different options. The market is wide and there are also some young talents in Moto2 to consider. After Austria, we will surely close the deal."
Cecchinello was also asked about comments Rins made to Spanish broadcaster DAZN about feeling he didn't get supported enough by HRC.
"The truth is that Alex has a factory contract with HRC, but when you ride a factory bike in a satellite team everything takes longer. The evolution is not the same, it's always a bit slower. He has shown that he has the talent and the ability to win races".
The Italian also went into detail about a recent phone call he had with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Francesco Guidotti regarding the possibility of LCR switching to KTM from Honda in the near future.
"It was a very normal, friendly call. A private call between us. He called me and told me that KTM were assessing their situation. They have a lot of young talents in their sights and they don't have enough places. He told me they were interested in increasing the number of KTM riders on the grid and that they knew we were in a more complicated situation. I told him I appreciated the offer, but we have a contract with Honda for 2024, in the future we will see. I took it into consideration. But the conversation stopped there. We won't be with KTM in 2024."