Taka Nakagami knows he is in the hot seat at Honda where things are becoming clearer for the seasons to come. It has now been five campaigns that he has had the opportunity to fly the colors of Japan in the major Grand Prix category. A situation which could have lasted for a long time without the emergence of young compatriot Ai Ogura who took his first pole position in Moto2 in Jerez. The succession seems assured while the LCR team has been confirmed as Honda's partner until 2024. Nakagami understands, the time to win or disappear has come...
And it is under this strong pressure that he has not left the top 10 since the start of this Spanish Grand Prix. He will start from a good seventh place this Sunday for 25 laps of racing where he will have no other option than to shine. The timing seems all the better as Jerez is one of the Japanese’s favorite tracks: “ a small mistake cost me dearly, I couldn't put it all together » says the teammateAlex Marquez satelliteed in 22nd place. “ Sixth place would have been acceptable, but at the very end, Zarco improved his lap time again, so I dropped back to P7 ».
And he adds: “ I'm not really happy with the performance and the times. I missed the second line of the grid, but we still have a chance to have a good race from P7 ». Nakagami seems thus transfigured: “ we had a good pace in FP4 », underlined the Honda driver of the LCR Idemitsu team. “ We focused on race pace because here in Jerez the second half of the race is always very difficult, physically and for the tires. The feeling on the bike is good, I'm really looking forward to Sunday's race ", said Nakagami.
Taka Nakagami takes his Honda colleagues on the wrong foot: “the front of the bike is quite stable"
How does he feel facing the front of the bike? This point has been criticized many times by pilots Honda. " The front is quite stable. Now we are working on improvement on the rear wheel. It's not a big step forward, but little by little we are improving the grip. I think we'll stick with what we had in FP4 for tomorrow's race. But we have to wait and see the conditions “, said “Taka”.
The Japanese of 30 years old is under pressure for his fifth season in MotoGP. Many observers believe the Grand Prix at Jerez could be his best shot at achieving his long-awaited premier class podium. “ It's well known that Jerez is my favorite circuit. Why not, I will do my best and of course I would be more than happy with a top 3 result » he comments on the perspective. “ But I'm not just focused on the podium », also explained Taka.
« This weekend, the feeling returned. This is the most important thing for the future and it was the priority. I wanted to attack in Jerez on Friday and Saturday to regain the feeling and confidence. So far, so good. Now let's enjoy the race. Of course, I will do my best. I know what I have to do, I want to attack from start to finish » concludes the one who will also watch the race closely of Ogura in Moto2...
MotoGP Spain J2: qualifying
Credit classification motogp.com
