SOLID START FOR NAKAGAMI AT SILVERSTONE
Japanese star Takaaki Nakagami set the 11th fastest time overall on the first day of practice at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Under sunny skies at the Northamptonshire track, the LCR Honda IDEMITSU man was in the top five throughout much of the afternoon session, and at one point thought he had lost his fast lap due to exceeding track limits, before it was reinstated by race direction on closer inspection.
Nakagami dubs the British track his favourite on the MotoGP World Championship calendar, having scored three podiums in the past including a Moto2 win in 2017, and with a newly laid asphalt he found going tough to find the best lines in the morning practice. However, having seen a massive jump in performance in the afternoon, the LCR Honda IDEMITSU Team will hope for even more on qualifying day on Saturday.
#30 Takaaki Nakagami 11th (2’00.492)
“I didn’t know that they’d taken my last lap away, because that was my best time. It was ninth in the afternoon, but when I came back to the box I saw I was in 14th! Race direction had cancelled it, but I was sure I was inside the track. It wasn’t just me, others had the same issue. So I’m glad it was reinstated”.
“It was a bit of a struggle for me in the morning, especially on exiting the corner. We knew that we would improve in the afternoon, and the set-up got much better later on. We made a two-second improvement, so I’m quite happy about how the first day has finished. Let’s see tomorrow, I think the time will come and I think it will be a good day”.
