MotoGP can be as popular as it is now because of Valentino Rossi
The LCR Honda Team Manager, Lucio Cecchinello, as former tough rival Valentino Rossi, did not hesitate to admit that The Doctor is a figure who made MotoGP one of the most popular sports in the world today.
Meanwhile, Cecchinello himself competed with Rossi in the GP125, although he is known to have strong rivalries, but the relationship between the two is very close.
Cecchinello then formed the LCR Team in 1996, where he was only 27 years old at the time. The team was originally formed to protect itself, but unexpectedly, this team continued to grow until it climbed the rankings to GP250.
Had overshadowed many top riders like Casey Stoner, even after Cecchinello retired at the end of 2003. In 2006, LCR also penetrated MotoGP. To GPOne, Cecchinello later revealed that the success of the LCR team was not as easy as it seemed.
“MotoGP has undergone an important development period in the era of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s. Those times made this championship more and more attention to the mass media, became more popular and more ‘global’,” he said.
The man from Italy was not shy about saying that Valentino Rossi was one of the keys to the success of MotoGP, which could reach more fans from various circles.
“Vale brings ordinary audiences, fans that MotoGP didn’t have before. In the days of Schwantz, Rainey and Doohan, MotoGP did have huge fans.”
“However, Vale widened the audience to the daughters, housewives and grandmothers. Everyone watched MotoGP, and when Vale won, everyone cheered, “said Cecchinello.
The question is, what if Rossi really leaves this sport, aka hanging his helmet? Cecchinello himself admits that MotoGP would not be the same without Rossi, but there will still be some types of true fans who remain.
“Vale’s retirement is possible, and MotoGP may lose some types of fans. But I don’t think real fans will go,” said Cecchinello.
However the world continues to rotate, the same thing happened in the Formula 1 event.
“In the past, everyone fell in love with Ayrton Senna. After he died, many said F1 would lose its appeal. But the media is able to create new characters, and it always happens. After Senna, there is Michael Schumacher, now there is Lewis Hamilton,” he concluded. .