NAKAGAMI ON THE FIFTH ROW AT PHILLIP ISLAND
On a day of tricky conditions at Phillip Island, LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami qualified on the fifth row for the Australian Grand Prix. Strong winds circled the iconic coastal circuit throughout Saturday and Nakagami eventually settled for 14th position on the timesheets.
The Japanese rookie – who is the sole LCR rider this weekend after Cal Crutchlow’s injury – found a better rhythm than on Friday and was in the mix for progression to Q2 after going 12th fastest in FP4. However, he narrowly missed out after taking fourth position in Q1 and is now targeting a quick start in Sunday’s MotoGP race.
#30 Takaaki Nakagami (14th – 1’30.452)
“It was really difficult conditions all today, from the morning to F4 and qualifying it was very difficult to adapt to the strong wind and also the track temperature was a lot lower than yesterday. It was difficult to find grip in all the sessions, but we made a step from yesterday even despite these conditions. In qualifying maybe we could have gone a little bit faster, but we did our best. For tomorrow we’ll try to make a good start, 27 laps is a very long race and so tyre management will be very important. I’ll give it my best on every lap and try to get a good result.”
