Despite his results obtained in qualifying (last place) and in the race (fall), Kohta Nozane is far from unworthy during this preparation for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Thirteenth at the end of a first day during which he was almost constantly in the top 10, the Japanese driver had more difficulties on the less wet track on Saturday morning, before experiencing a fall in FP4 from which he recovered. is noted with a micro-fracture in a metacarpal.
In the race, the replacement of Jonas Folger, still seriously disabled despite painkillers, made an excellent start (gained 5 places during the first round) but fell on the 4th round.
This is undoubtedly an excess of enthusiasm due both to a lack of experience in MotoGP and a frenzied desire to want to shine in front of his public and the Yamaha officials.
If it is not effective, this is understandable, and Hervé Poncharal he himself was not indifferent to the speed of the Yamaha test rider on the first day…
Hervé Poncharal : « Overall it was a positive weekend and I would like to thank Yamaha for looking after us the way they did. We knew today was going to be very difficult because the conditions were really difficult and almost dangerous. There was a lot of standing water on the trail and it never stopped raining. Kohta Nozane was really impressive on Friday and we thought he would end up fighting for a top ten finish at the end of the race. Unfortunately, a small mistake early in FP4 saw him crash and fracture his right hand, which meant it would be very difficult. Yet he never gave up and worked hard all night to be able to use his hand. The warm-up went well, so we thought it was good for the race. However, I think it was a bit too much and he wanted to do his home Grand Prix, so we gave Kohta the opportunity and I'm glad we did. Still, we weren't very confident because we could see how bad his hand was and, on such a hard braking circuit, with a fractured right hand, it was almost impossible. I would like to thank him and I think he has shown that he has a very good level and could be a MotoGP rider in the near future. I don't know what Yamaha has planned, but it was a pleasure for us to take care of Kohta. He's a really nice guy and we'd like to eventually give him another chance to show his full potential. Thanks to the whole team, we are packing everything tonight and then we will head to Australia where we hope there will be no rain. »
However, can we imagine that Kohta Nozane takes control of the Yamaha M1 again, in Malaysia, after Broc Parkes than does it in Australia ?
Nothing is less certain, because on the one hand we must not forget that the Japanese rider knew the Motegi circuit particularly well, which is not the case for Sepang, and on the other hand, Yamaha still has a “debt” to Michael Van Der Mark which was initially intended to replace Valentino Rossi in Aragon…
Kohta Nozane : « After the warm-up session, under local anesthesia, I decided to run today. The track conditions were rather bad this afternoon compared to this morning. If I wasn't injured I could have handled the GP better, but the fact is that I crashed very early. I'm frustrated, through my fault, and I have to say sorry to Yamaha and the whole team. However, these three days were like a dream and once again I would like to thank Yamaha and Hervé for trusting me! »
