How heavy is the task of Takaaki Nakagami, having to carry the Honda flag during this Valencia Grand Prix, in the absence of the two official drivers Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró, both injured!
Of course, the Tokyo firm also has at its disposal Alex Marquez, in renewed form in Portugal, but the latter, appearing 15th at the end of FP3, also fell during Q1, leaving his Japanese teammate alone to try to shine the winged coat of arms.
The representative of the rising sun acquitted himself of his task quite well, positioned 6th at the end of the first day, pre-qualified 9th in Fp3 then even offering himself the luxury of leading FP4 aboard his RC213V from the LCR Honda team Idemitsu!
So it's from the 3rd line, next to Fabio Quartararo, which “Taka” will set off on Sunday, on a track which saw it competitive last year: qualified in third position during the two GPs which took place in Valencia in 2020, the number 30 finished the GP of Europe in fourth, equaling his best result in MotoGP, before crashing out at the Valencia GP when he was also in fourth with nine laps remaining.
Takaaki Nakagami could therefore aim for the top 5 tomorrow…
Takaaki Nakagami : " Ninth place on the third row is not a disaster, but after being fastest in FP4, I expected a better position on the grid. To be honest, I expected a better result, but the third row is not so bad for tomorrow's race. Before qualifying, I was not satisfied with the stability and braking performance of my bike. In FP4 we tried the hard tire again, which I hoped would improve things, but unfortunately it didn't. Even though we were just ahead in the fourth practice session, the feeling on the bike wasn't particularly good. So we changed the front set-up a bit before qualifying and it was a bit better, but it was still difficult. So I expected a little more in qualifying, but the Ducatis are a few tenths of a second ahead of us here. In FP4, however, we were the fastest and that's good for the pace of the race. In qualifying it was a bit strange as I struggled with the speed performance, but I'm really looking forward to the race. I hope we can get off to a good start and keep up with the best, and I will fight to the checkered flag. »
As for the crashes of his colleagues, the 29-year-old pilot does not let himself be intimidated: “ After Pol and Álex fell, I became a little pensive. However, both ride in a different configuration and our bikes are not identical. So we stay focused on ourselves. I'm not too concerned about the problems of the other Honda riders. We want to finish the season well. This Sunday is therefore very important. »
