At Honda, it's still the berezina. Certainly, Takaaki Nakagami is doing what he can and quite well considering his progression from one year to the next. But the absence of Marc Marquez is cruelly felt. In Misano, at the end of Friday's San Marino Grand Prix, no RC213V appears in the top 10. Nakagami remains at the forefront of the HRC troops, but he warns about the condition of the track. Team manager Alberto Puig responded scathingly…
The Idemitsu LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami finished the first day at Misano in 12th place. A modest performance which he explains as the result of a degraded track, despite having been resurfaced: “ we had grip problems in FP1 and FP2 all day. The new asphalt actually offers good grip “, declared the 28-year-old Japanese. “ But the little bumps are amazing. There are a lot of bumps and we have big problems with it. Our motorcycle moves a lot. I can't concentrate on braking in the following turns ».
Nakagami estimated : " it takes a long time to resolve these traction issues. The balance of the bike is not yet optimal. Most of the waves are between turns 3 and 4. Then also at the end of the straight and in the narrow turn 10. The waves there are incredibly big. The problem is the high speed. The bike shakes faster and faster every time you try. I can't turn up the gas there, so we're wasting a lot of time ».
“I can barely hold the bike for ten laps”
« The problem is too big for us, we need a solution quickly. I guess I can't finish the race like this. I can barely hold the bike for ten laps, I'm going crazy. Nevertheless, we are close to the top 10. But we need a solution for Saturday » finishes the Japanese.
An alarming report and a call for help from the director of HRC, Alberto puig doesn’t want to hear… “ If Marc Marquez was here, do you think we would have a problem? We may not be using our full potential ", replied the Repsol Honda team manager who, before his champion's injury, swore that he was not the essential element in the series of successes lined up by the brand since 2013...
In the meantime, colleagues from Nakagami wearing the colors of the Honda brand which are Cal Crutchlow, Stefan bradl and the Moto2 world champion Alex Marquez are in 19th, 20th and 21st place…
MotoGP Misano1 J1: standings
