DEMANDING FIRST DAY FOR TAKA IN GERMANY

Takaaki Nakagami ended the opening day of free practice for the German Grand Prix down in 15th position. The LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider was hampered by the injury to his left ankle that he sustained at Assen last weekend as he struggled to find his best form.

Nakagami rode through the pain barrier in FP1 and impressed as he went ninth fastest. But his injury became progressively more painful and restricting throughout the day and, although he improved in FP2, he slipped down the order and now has work to do ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

#30 Takaaki Nakagami (15th – 1’21.729)

“Of course, my body condition is not quite ready, but FP1 was ok without painkillers as I wanted to understand how painful riding would be. It was quite painful but after the session, with a lot of movement, the ankle was worse. But I’m here to fight until the end and be strong. I’m not feeling very well, but I’ll do my best this weekend. I know that after two more days we have a summer break which will be important for me to recover. I’m a little sad about this afternoon because everybody improved their lap time, but the times are very close at this circuit. If we can improve by one or two tenths you can make a big step. We tried to find the best set up on the bike because we struggled a bit to find grip, but we still have time to understand and improve tomorrow.”