The LCR crew has had a really tough begin to the season, with out the slightest level scored. The two races ofÁlex Marquez in Losail ended with falls and Takaaki Nakagami, additionally down in the Qatar GP, took solely seventeenth place in the second assembly, the Doha GP. Already behind in qualifying, with sixteenth quickest time, the Japanese climbed again to 14th at the begin of the race earlier than dropping locations to end out of factors.
He now wants to put these two races behind him and actually begin his championship this week with the GP of Portugal, which opens the European season.
“For me, it was a really tough race”Nakagami mentioned after the second Doha assembly. “After these seven or eight [premiers] turns, it was really hard. I am really disappointed with our performance. I am very disappointed, but I did my best and now want to race in Europe. It is better that I forget these two races. I have no ideas how to fix this, so I can’t wait to be in Portimão, back in Europe, and I hope we can fight for [une meilleure] position. We’ll see, but I’m disappointed with these two races. “
Believing that the outcomes achieved in Qatar don’t replicate his true degree, Nakagami hopes that the races in Europe will permit him to clinch his first podium in MotoGP, if not higher. “OK, this is not our position and our performance was very poor, but at least I was able to finish the race, that was all I could do”, he advised the official MotoGP web site. “Of course, we are not happy with our position and our performance during these two weekends, but now we are returning to Europe and from Portimão we have to find our position, like the podium or even victory. We have to find those feelings again. We will do our best and see what happens in Portimão. ”
Nakagami had to decelerate to keep away from the fall
At the Doha GP, Takaaki Nakagami was in the combat with Franco Morbidelli and Pol Espargaró at the begin of the race, earlier than seeing his entrance tire deteriorate. Fearing a slip probably to lead to one other fall, the LCR crew rider most well-liked to decelerate to make certain of seeing the checkered flag.
“As you’ll be able to see we had been in numerous bother. At the very starting it was okay, I used to be behind Morbidelli and it was below management. I used to be enthusiastic about the place I might go it. In entrance of Morbidelli there was additionally Pol, who was doing fairly comparable occasions, and in some locations I used to be just a little quicker than them, not all over the place. Anyway, I stored questioning the place I might go and check out to enhance my abilities. place.”
“But after eight laps, I think, I felt a huge drop in performance from my front tire, especially on the right side. After that, I thought to myself that if I kept pushing, I would surely fall. and finish in gravel again. It was a tough decision, but when I felt this big drop in performance from my front tire, I decided I had to finish this race. If I had fallen, we could not have gotten any positive points. “
Nakagami doesn’t suppose that choosing the medium tire, chosen solely by the 4 KTM riders in the race, would have enabled him to keep away from the drawback since he was not snug on this rubber with which he began off. the fault in the pre-season assessments: “We didn’t think about using the medium tire at the front. During the tests, we often tried the medium tire at the front, day and night, but my feelings were not very good. It’s an asymmetric tire and I don’t like the feeling it gives me on the right sidewall, where you go from medium to soft. A lot of riders have complained about it, because you change compound and you goes from medium to soft exactly when you start to tilt the bike. “
“During the tests, I fell with the medium, because I did not have good feelings and it is very difficult to understand where the limit is. We therefore ruled out this option because it was too risky. We knew that the software, even if it is not the best option for us, we could use it. It is not that for me, all the Honda have been in great difficulty and everyone has done the same comment. It was very difficult to control the bike. “
With Léna Buffa
