After Johann Zarco's extraordinary rookie season in MotoGP last year, we awaited with interest the first winter tests to find out who would be his most successful successor to Franco Morbidelli, Takaaki Nakagami, Thomas Lüthi and Xavier Siméon.
With the world title, 308 points, 8 victories and 6 pole positions in 2017, Morbidelli started favorite against Nakagami and his seventh final place, his 137 points, only 1 victory and 1 pole.
During the first test in Valencia, the day after the GP, Franco 17th was ahead of Taka 18th by 0.081. At Sepang, Nakagami 15th preceded Morbidely 20th by 0.455. Finally in Buriram, Nakagami 10th was ahead of Morbidelli 13th by 0.222. The difference was not huge but, with Honda being equal, the balance was tipped towards the Japanese. Lüthi et Simeon were quite far away.
“I’m really happy with these three days,” Nakagami said after the Thai tests. “ Especially on the last day. We had a really good time and I'm really happy with my personal best time. Like in Sepang, we tried to improve the set-up.
“I still have to understand MotoGP and how to straighten it and get out of the corner. I lost time coming out of the corner compared to Cal, Marc and Dani. In Qatar we need to focus on this to have more acceleration.
“But the overall feeling is pretty good. With good points like high speed in the corners – I was faster than Cal and a few others – it's a positive that we keep like that, but there are negative sides that we need to improve a lot.
“We're trying a few things. We tried to modify the electronic side to do less wheelie and use more rear brake. I still don't understand 100 percent. I always try a lot of things and then ask the telemetry guy to see the data.
“Sometimes I didn't know how to use full throttle and the rear brake. Sometimes it's best to close the throttle a little to maintain speed. But during these three days I started to understand – much better than in Sepang. We try to continue to progress in this way.
“The good thing is that I started to understand how to use Michelin tires. I'm still missing the last part of the angle, a degree or two – the very last part.
“The Michelin technician explained to me how to use the tire. We tried medium and soft tires. For me there is good feedback, but we are still missing the extra grip. Maybe Marc and Dani use the extra grip but I don't know how they use it. I'm still learning a lot.
“I expected to be twelfth or thirteenth, but to be in the top ten overall is good, especially the people in the team are happier than me. It's good to see!
“For me, Saturday was the first time I followed Marc ", did he declare. " He had his best lap time [at the end of the day] and I followed that lap. I then did my best time. He was almost a second faster than me. I was able to see the start of sector one and two, see how he straightens the bike. Its strong point, as you know, is braking.
“For me it was good to see. It's easy to see him on TV but difficult when you're behind him. It's pretty easy to figure out how to use the front brake, but not so much the rear brake. It's his secret. For me, it's interesting to see very close to him. This is where I think the improvement will come from. »
Photos © LCR Honda
Source: crash.net
