The LCR driver was in difficulty during this first day in Barcelona but was able to turn things around at the last minute and once again finished as the best Honda driver.
The gusts of wind that blew across the Barcelona circuit throughout this first day of testing will have disrupted the entire MotoGP field, but not everyone fared in the same way. If almost all of the Ducati riders, for example, finished far away, on the Honda side the results are shared but in the combined times the fastest remains once again Takaaki Nakagami.
The morning proved to be a little complicated for the Japanese who nevertheless managed to place 11th in FP1, then the track conditions not having evolved favorably during FP2, he did not sail to the forefront before the last minutes of the session. He then managed to get a time allowing him to improve his best time of the morning by almost a second, but above all to move into fifth position and offer himself a provisional place in Q2.
“Today was a bit of a strange day”, did he declare. “The track conditions were not the best and, normally, between FP1 and FP2 you can feel that there is more rubber on the track and more grip. But today I didn't feel any improvement because it was so windy, and this afternoon was perhaps worse than this morning, the conditions were really difficult. I really had difficulty controlling the bike well. »
“At the end of FP2 we fitted a new soft rear tire and we were able to improve our time and finish fifth. So we are in the top 10 and it's a good start for us. But we definitely need to improve over the whole distance of the race because we are not strong enough with the medium tire. We will work hard to prepare a good bike for tomorrow. »
FP1/FP2 Ranking MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix in Barcelona:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
