Riding his Honda LCR which is not the latest, Takaaki Nakagami delivered his best performance since he was in MotoGP in Andalusia. Marc Marquez absent and Cal Crutchlow injured freed him while he was happy to see that in the box the HRC pundits came to observe him. It must be said that there were only half of the squad left to follow… But the result is there. The Japanese is happy, even if the podium would have been the icing on the cake...
The LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami celebrated his best result in MotoGP with a fourth place in the Andalusian Grand Prix in Jerez. He missed the podium by just 0,6 seconds. During this meeting, the Japanese had an overview of the world champion's data Marc Márquez. Like a revelation, given his overall performance, marked by first times during the free sessions. After the best times in FP2 and FP4, the 28-year-old driver reached fourth place in the race. All while trying to adapt his driving style to that of Márquez. Overall, he only lost six seconds to the winner fabio quartararo on his Yamaha.
« It was a great race because we were very close to the podium. At the beginning I was behind Bagnaia, but most of the time I followed Viñales and I could clearly see the movements of the different bikes. It is important for me to learn different styles so that I can fight for the podium in the future ", said Nakagami this Sunday afternoon.
“Viñales became faster by changing his riding style”
« The race conditions were very difficult because we had less grip on the front wheel than last week, but our times were even better. Although Viñales had similar problems in racing, he eventually became faster by changing his driving style ". An interesting revelation…
« However, we are not far from the summit. I tried to adapt my style to that of Marc Márquez, but I wasn't able to do it very well in a short time “, the Honda driver had to admit. “ But the steering is good and I understand better how to manage the bike and the tires. The race was very important for the future. »
Takeo Yokoyama, MotoGP project manager at Honda Racing Corporation, helped a lot Nakagami this week-end. “Takeo supported us further this weekend and regularly reviewed the data and compared it to Marc's data. Alberto Puig also gave me advice and he came to my box more often. I get strong support from HRC, which is important for the future. Honda now understands how important it is for me to succeed. I'm just a little disappointed that Yamaha finished on the podium because if I had got on the podium it would have been a feeling ", said Nakagami with a smile.
Still, these remarks also reveal one thing: when Marc Marquez is there, he concentrates all the attention and energies that his colleagues at Honda suffer from it. And the manufacturer, too, as a result. As for the discovery of data from Marc Marquez, one would almost assume that in his presence, this does not happen...
MotoGP Jerez 2 J3: race classification
