LCR announces 'rookie' MotoE line-up to replace Canepa, Simeon

A clash between the 2021 MotoE calendar and World Endurance schedule, cited by Marc VDS for losing the services of Mike di Meglio and causing their MotoE withdraw, has now triggered an all-new line-up for the LCR squad.

Due to their endurance commitments both Niccolò Canepa (who has raced for LCR in both MotoE seasons) and 2020 team-mate Xavier Simeon (who gave LCR its first electric rostrum) have left the team and been replaced by 'rookies' Miquel Pons and Kevin Zannoni.

Pons, 23, was ESBK Spanish Supersport title runner-up in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. He has also participated in seven World Supersport events, with a best finish of ninth.

“I'm very happy to be part of the LCR team family, in the MotoE World Cup. It's a great opportunity for me and I want to make the most of it," Pons said. "I want to thank Lucio for trusting in me, the Hernandez family and Nobby Ueda for helping me in this process, my family and all the people who support me every day.”

Zannoni, 20, was the 2018 and 2019 Italian Moto3 champion and also competed in the FIM CEV Repsol series and been a Moto3 World Championship wild-card (best finish 17th).

“I am very excited to be part of the LCR team," said Zannoni. "It is a dream I‘ve had since I was little, to compete in a category with riders from all over the world… and now, it finally came true. I come from Moto3, MotoE of course is a very different bike but I will work to understand it and be able to be competitive. I would like to thank Lucio for the opportunity and my family for always supporting me. I can’t wait!”

Meanwhile, Canepa will be riding for YART and fellow former MotoGP rider Simeon for Yoshimura SERT in this year's EWC. The pair were ninth and tenth respectively in last year's MotoE series.

“First, I would like to thank Niccolò Canepa and Xavier Simeon for their excellent job on the 2020 season," said team boss Lucio Cecchinello. "It is very unfortunate that we could not find a solution to continue our sporting collaboration, but I understand their commitment with the World Endurance Championship which unfortunately clashes with the MotoE Calendar.

"Another chapter of the LCR E-team starts now with Miquel Pons and Kevin Zannoni. Both are very young riders which means they have less experience than some other MotoE competitors, but I know that young riders bring a lot of energy, motivation and their commitment to grow sometimes is even higher.

"Therefore, we expect a season in which we’ll give them a little time to learn about the category but since they have shown to be very competitive in the categories where they’ve competed in the past, I truly believe that we can achieve some excellent results on the second part of the season."