LCR Honda

Cecchinello began competing in the 125cc World Championship using Honda motorcycles, achieving several top ten finishes in 1996 and 1997.

In 1998, Noboru Ueda, a two-time 125cc runner-up, was recruited as Cecchinello’s teammate. In only his second race for the team, Ueda gave LCR their first Grand Prix victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix at Johor Circuit. Cecchinello took his own first team win later that year at the Madrid Grand Prix at Jarama, finishing 5th in the overall standings; Ueda finished 13th after missing half the season to injury, with Hiroyuki Kikuchi substituting during his absence.

The Cecchinello–Ueda partnership continued in 1999 and 2000, yielding another Ueda win at the 1999 Brazilian Grand Prix plus numerous podiums for both riders. Ueda finished both seasons 5th in the championship; Cecchinello finished 9th and 11th.

In 2001 the team switched to Aprilia machinery and signed Spanish youngster Raúl Jara alongside Cecchinello. Cecchinello’s form improved; he took his first Aprilia win at the Catalan Grand Prix and finished the season 4th overall.

In 2002 LCR extended into the 250cc class. San Marinese rider Alex de Angelis partnered Cecchinello in 125cc; Australian rookie Casey Stoner and Spanish rider David Checa competed in 250cc. Cecchinello again finished 4th in 125cc with three wins; De Angelis scored his first career podium and finished 9th. Stoner and Checa achieved several top-ten finishes in the team’s 250cc debut season.

In 2003, Stoner moved to 125cc to partner Cecchinello while Randy de Puniet joined for 250cc. Both classes yielded three wins each. De Puniet contested the 250cc title, finishing 4th with three wins and nine podiums. Cecchinello took two 125cc wins including his home Grand Prix; Stoner earned his first career podium and first career win with the team. At the end of 2003, Cecchinello retired from riding to concentrate on team management.

In 2004, de Puniet continued in 250cc on an official Aprilia factory bike, while Roberto Locatelli — a former 125cc World Champion — and rookie Mattia Pasini rode 125cc. Both de Puniet and Locatelli were championship contenders but each finished 3rd overall. For 2005, LCR competed only in 250cc; Casey Stoner returned after a season at KTM. Stoner recorded five wins and ten podiums, finishing runner-up to Dani Pedrosa — the best result in team history to that point and the first time an LCR rider had taken three or more wins in a single season.

In October 2005 LCR and Stoner reportedly agreed to enter MotoGP in 2006 with Yamaha support. Stoner then received an offer from Honda Pons and tested the Honda RC211V at Valencia, but after Honda Pons failed to secure sponsorship Stoner became available again. LCR re-signed him under an agreement with HRC to run the RC211V in 2006.

Stoner recorded the team’s first MotoGP pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix — only their second premier-class race — and their first MotoGP podium at the Turkish Grand Prix after a race-long battle with Marco Melandri. Stoner finished the season 8th overall and left for a Ducati factory ride in 2007.

Veteran Spanish rider Carlos Checa replaced him in 2007 on the new 800cc Honda RC212V; his best finish was sixth at the Spanish and San Marino Grands Prix.

Randy de Puniet rejoined in 2008 but struggled with the satellite RC212V and Michelin tyres, his best result being sixth at the United States Grand Prix. In 2009, with the switch to a single-tyre Bridgestone rule, de Puniet finished third at the British Grand Prix — LCR’s first MotoGP podium since Stoner’s 2006 result. In 2010, de Puniet’s best result was a fourth at the Catalan Grand Prix; he finished the season 9th.

After de Puniet departed to Pramac Racing, reigning Moto2 champion Toni Elías joined for 2011 and finished 15th in the championship with five top-ten race results.

Stefan Bradl, fresh from winning the Moto2 title, joined for 2012 on the all-new Honda RC213V. He finished consistently in the top ten, took a best result of fourth at Mugello, won the Rookie of the Year award, and finished 8th in the championship. In 2013 Bradl claimed his first premier-class pole position at Laguna Seca and finished second in that race — his first MotoGP podium — before a broken ankle in Malaysia cost him a top-five championship finish; he ended the year 7th.

Midway through 2014 LCR announced expansion to a two-bike satellite Honda team for 2015. Cal Crutchlow joined on a factory-specification RC213V under CWM FX sponsorship, alongside Australian rookie Jack Miller on the open-specification RC213V-RS. After the 2015 Czech Republic Grand Prix, CWM withdrew following a police raid and fraud allegations; Givi took over the sponsorship, and at Sepang Crutchlow ran a new Castrol livery.

Miller left in 2016 to join Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS. Crutchlow, as sole rider, started that season poorly but recovered to finish second at the German Grand Prix then take his first victory at Brno — LCR’s first ever win in the premier class and the first by a British rider in the 500cc/MotoGP class since Barry Sheene at the 1981 Swedish Grand Prix. Crutchlow also won at Phillip Island, becoming the first Briton to win the Australian Grand Prix. He ended 2016 seventh in the championship with 141 points. In 2017, Crutchlow scored one podium and finished ninth.

For 2018 LCR signed Japanese rookie Takaaki Nakagami to partner Crutchlow, running separate liveries — Castrol for Crutchlow, Idemitsu for Nakagami. Crutchlow won in Argentina and scored podiums at Misano and Motegi before a crash at the Australian GP fractured his leg; former LCR rider Stefan Bradl replaced him for the final two rounds. Crutchlow finished seventh in the championship with 148 points. Nakagami’s best finish was sixth at Valencia; he ended the season 20th.

In 2019, Crutchlow achieved three podiums and finished 9th. Nakagami improved to 13th despite missing the final three rounds for surgery; Johann Zarco substituted. In 2020, both Nakagami and Crutchlow rode for LCR; Crutchlow retired at the season’s end.

Álex Márquez joined Nakagami for 2021 and 2022, both riders struggling to show their full potential. For 2023, Álex Rins replaced Márquez and won the Grand Prix of the Americas. For 2024, Johann Zarco replaced Rins while Nakagami continued.

With Nakagami leaving for 2025, Zarco was partnered by Thai rookie Somkiat Chantra. Zarco won the 2025 French Grand Prix at the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans — the first Honda race win since Rins at the 2023 Grand Prix of the Americas, the first French winner of the French Grand Prix since Pierre Monneret in 1954, the first ever French winner at Le Mans, and the first non-Ducati winner since Maverick Viñales at the 2024 Grand Prix of the Americas. Chantra departed at the end of 2025 to join the Honda HRC team in the World Superbike Championship and was replaced by Diogo Moreira, the 2025 Moto2 World Champion.

For 2026, LCR retained Zarco and promoted Moreira to the premier class. In February 2026, LCR Honda announced a three-year partnership with digital sports media platform GOD55 Sports covering the 2026, 2027, and 2028 seasons, including branding on the RC213V bikes of both riders and dedicated livery activations for Zarco at the Italian and Indonesian Grands Prix.

LCR was invited to enter the inaugural MotoE season with Niccolò Canepa and Randy de Puniet. In 2020 de Puniet was replaced by Belgian Xavier Siméon. From 2021 through 2023, Eric Granado and Miquel Pons competed for the LCR E-Team.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.