At the end of a French Grand Prix marked by numerous crashes and in which only 13 riders crossed the finish line, only one Honda rider remained in that lucky group, Takaaki Nakagami. The Japanese took a modest ninth place after fearing a possible crash throughout the race, having to deal with the instability of the front of the bike from the golden wing brand. The LCR driver preferred to slow down to complete the race.
“It was difficult,” Nakagami admitted on Sunday. “I can’t be satisfied with the performance, the race pace and the feeling on the bike. From the first lap I had no feeling with the front under braking, I couldn’t stop the bike. The rear pushed me forward and I began to lose ‘front. I knew that if I continued to attack I would crash. I contented myself with finishing the race. In the end, luckily, I finished in the top 10, but the feeling was bad. This is what I felt in the race.” .
Alex Rins also described exactly the same problems as the Japanese rider when asked about the circumstances of the crash: “I had the sensation that when I entered the corner and braked immediately, the rear was pushing the front. In the previous laps I was already at the limit in that corner. I braked a little more on the line and, as soon as I turned, I lost the front completely. We had problems in turns 9, 11 and 12 all weekend. We’ll see how to take the information and how they will work for the rest”.
Nakagami saw his teammate crash and slowed his pace further to avoid the same fate: “We had a similar pace and similar lap times, but when I saw he had crashed under braking at turn 9, I thought if had I attacked the same thing would have happened to me, I would have crashed for sure. After Alex’s crash I tried to go less distance so as not to race to the limit. It’s a shame because in the race I don’t want to slow down, I want to attack, but that’s the way it is. If attacks, you have limits. We have to change something in the feeling with the front and in the grip of the rear. In the race it was very difficult to start from the front,” added Nakagami.
Alex Rins, LCR Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Nakagami is hoping for the new Kalex chassis at Mugello
Like Rins, Takaaki Nakagami also raced with the old Honda chassis, while only the two factory team riders, Marc Marquez and Joan Mir, benefited from the version developed with Kalex at Le Mans. While Rins has been able to test different models since the start of the season, Nakagami has not tested “any different chassis since the Sepang test” and hopes to have the new model at the Italian Grand Prix, although the LCR driver prefers to remain cautious despite the first positive signs.
“In the data, it’s very difficult to see a difference between the chassis. Marc was the fastest all weekend. From the data, it seems like he has a little more confidence with the brakes mid-corner, but I don’t know if it’s due to the chassis. or his riding. I think there’s something positive because he decided to use the Kalex chassis in the race and his pace was good. I’ll ask HRC if I can try it at Mugello,” said Nakagami.
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