Cecchinello: Crutchlow will be fighting for the title in 2020

Honda LRC team leader Lucio Cecchinello believes Cal Crutchlow will be fighting for the MotoGP world title in the 2020 season.

Crutchlow, who has been playing for the LCR team since the 2015 season, recorded his best in the team last season with seventh place in the overall standings, despite the fact that he missed the last three races of the season due to injury. Last year, the Briton also extended his factory contract with the Honda team, which now binds him until the end of the 2020 season. However, he himself has repeatedly said that this contract may even be the last in the most elite motorcycle racing class.

After a successful season, the leader of his team predicts that the Briton will take the last step forward with which he could fight for the title of world champion in the next two seasons. At the same time, he emphasizes that the XNUMX-year-old needs to change his mentality a bit. As he said, in certain situations he has to take a little less risk and think about the situation in the total.

“Cal is a racer who really competes with all his heart. It's impossible to tell him that sometimes he just has to finish the race. ”

“He always goes for the win, because he only competes for that. That’s why he sometimes risks more in races than he actually should. When you have a racer like that on your team, of course you try to tell him that he just has to finish the race, but in the end we know he won't do it. ”

"Such racers also have to make mistakes to become aware of their limits and see how they can improve their weaknesses."

“I believe he will be able to fight for the title in the 2020 season. This year's season will definitely be successful for us, and the year after that he will be able to take that last step forward. He only has to find the limit when he is fast and does not risk everything. ”

Asked if he could help him with this, Cecchinello replied:

"There's not much I can do about it."

He added that he sees how the Briton has matured in his team, while not losing the fighting spirit that adorned him in his first seasons in the MotoGP class on the Tech 3 motorcycle.

“I think it’s still in him that combativeness he had when he came to MotoGP. In the years since he has been with us, he has matured as a racer. He is becoming a more complete racer every season and that is why I believe that he can fight for the title in 2020. ”