Takaaki Nakagami Completes Friday Practices on Home Soil
Mobility Resort MotegiLCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami finished 18th on Friday at the Mobility Resort Motegi.
The first day of practice sessions has been challenging for the Japanese rider, who is racing at home this weekend in front of his crowd. Some difficulties when trying to stop the bike have prevented the team and Nakagami from taking a step forward. The plan is to find a solution to be ready to fight on tomorrow's Sprint.
LCR Honda CASTROL rider Alex Rins has completed his first day of practices on his MotoGP bike at Motegi after his injury in Mugello last June.
Friday at the Mobility Resort Motegi has meant an essential date for the LCR, as the team has finally counted on Alex Rins riding the bike after missing the last eight races. Having the doctors' fit, the #42 jumped on the bike to step by step regain feeling and performance. Considering the number of weeks and races he missed and the severity of the injury, the team can only thank Alex for his effort and commitment, as he completed the two practice sessions.
At the end of the day, due to the pain he felt in the right leg while riding, alongside the team and the doctors he decided to withdraw to avoid further risks and keep recovering. HRC rider Stefan Bradl will replace him for the rest of the Japanese Grand Prix.
I've struggled since the FP1 this morning. I didn't feel good when getting to the braking areas and with the bike's balance. Regarding the grip, on the rear is better than in the front end, but we still need to improve it because we need to reduce the gap.
I started the day feeling good, but then after a couple of laps, I started to feel pain in the leg. Today was important because now I know which is the starting point and how to continue with my recovery process. The plan is to keep working at home and try again in Indonesia, let’s see how everything goes.
