TAKA ON SEVENTH ROW IN MISANO
LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami has work to do at Misano after qualifying in 19th place for Sunday’s San Marino Grand Prix. The Japanese rider was unable to build on some encouraging signs earlier on Saturday and ultimately finished down in ninth spot in Q1, meaning a place on the seventh row of the grid for tomorrow’s race.
Heavy overnight rain in Rimini complicated matters for the MotoGP riders as the morning’s FP3 session took place on a drying track. Nakagami performed well despite the conditions as he went 12th fastest, before posting the 15th best time in FP4. However, he was unable to maintain that progress in Q1 and is now looking for a fast start on Sunday.
#35 Takaaki Nakagami (19th – 1’33.437)
“Conditions weren’t too bad, although it was mixed this morning which meant that I couldn’t improve enough in FP3 and went into Q1. But there is more rubber on the track now and it’s getting better to ride with each session”.
“We still need to find the best setting for the engine brake and the mapping which is causing us a bit of confusion. We need to focus on the race pace, it’s 27 laps which is long so it will be a tough race. I will try to be consistent and not make any mistakes and get a good start so I can follow the top guys.”
