Taka Nakagami will ultimately not leave the Jerez track with a smile. This site in Andalusia is one of his favorites, and he demonstrated it during a Spanish Grand Prix where he finished seventh. A result which is his best ranking since the start of this season where he is in the hot seat to keep his position at LCR-Honda. Unfortunately, the good momentum stopped on the 17th lap of his test which he carried out with his RC213V on the same circuit with the rest of the MotoGP field. The Japanese driver fell at high speed in the first turn of the Spanish track, hitting the “airfence” located there.
The incident of Nakagami led to the appearance of the red flag to allow entry for medical assistance. The Chiba rider, conscious at all times, was transferred to the medical center suffering from severe pain in his left leg, the same one that was injured some time ago while practicing dirt-track in Barcelona.
An x-ray was taken and it confirmed that he had no broken bones. However, LCR Honda Team IDEMITSU halted testing and Taka flew straight to Barcelona for a precautionary MRI to rule out ligament damage.
@ takanakagami30 is at the medical center. He is conscious, but sounds like he is in pain (right leg…), but hopefully nothing serious. pic.twitter.com/dG9RhWrzMU
— Niki Kovács (@NikiKovacs) May 2, 2022
Taka Nakagami wasn't the only one to crash during the Jerez test
Lucio Cecchinello, his boss at LCR commented: “ unfortunately, Taka crashed at turn 1 this Monday morning. Fortunately, on the x-ray taken at the circuit medical center, it was clear that there were no fractures. Taka is still feeling pain in his left knee, so we have decided to immediately take him back to Barcelona where he will undergo an MRI as soon as he lands ».
« We should know the results in the next few days, but we hope they will be good, because after some initial pain he was able to come out of the circuit himself. We are therefore convinced that he will be restored and ready for the next round which will be the French Grand Prix » concludes the Italian who hopes to find his Japanese driver from May 13 to 15 at Le Mans, in Sarthe.
Several drivers also fell during this test day carried out under a temperature of 19º C and with many more clouds in the sky compared to the race weekend. In addition to 'Taka', Maverick Vinales, Johann Zarco, Lorenzo Savadori, Remy Gardner et Brad Binder also fell, the latter twice, first at turn 8 then at turn 13…
Credit classification motogp.com
