TAKA FEELING GOOD ON RETURN TO ACTION IN BRNO
Takaaki Nakagami ended the day just outside the top 10 as free practice got underway at the Czech Republic Grand Prix in Brno. The LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider was returning to MotoGP action after spending the summer break recovering from the ankle ligament injury he sustained at Assen.
The Japanese star eased his way back into proceedings in FP1 as he posted the 17th fastest time in the morning session. However, he improved his lap time markedly in FP2 as he grew more comfortable, but saw his hopes of breaking the top 10 end when he crashed on his final flying lap.
#30 Takaaki Nakagami (12th – 1’56.662)
“Tomorrow I know that the weather forecast is a little unstable, so that’s why our strategy was to try and post a good time (at the end of FP2) and we used two soft tyres. I think most of the riders had the same strategy. My first one (lap) was quite nice, but the second one – I knew we could maybe improve two or three tenths – but unfortunately I didn’t have a very good feeling on the front and I had a lot of warnings when I did my best time. But because that lap was my last lap, I tried to push and I was over the limit and lost the front. It was a fast crash, but fortunately the body is ok and that’s the main thing. Of course, I’m disappointed with the crash, but on the other hand I’m happy with my riding as, at the end of FP2, I had more confidence than all the rest of the session. So I’m positive for tomorrow.”
