Nakagami was comfortably the best Honda rider throughout the Jerez weekend. Its shape was improved by switching to an older chassis, which gave it more rear grip.
The Japanese driver qualified fifth and fought his way up to fourth place in the final stages of the race in Jerez. In the final round he put pressure on Franco Morbidelli from Petronas SRT.
However, Nakagami came only briefly and left him with mixed feelings, even though he was “proud” of his result.
“I’m happy with myself, the race was pretty tough and 25 laps were difficult,” he said. “On the other hand, I am very proud and very happy about the performance.
“The race pace was very fast, but we were able to keep the rhythm. [I had] A really good feeling on the bike from start to finish.
“I was very, very close to P3, a podium. Mixed feelings after the race.
“I screamed after the race. 50% I’m proud, very happy, but 50% I was… not disappointed, I don’t know how to explain how I feel.
“When I got to the pits, I cried because I was starting to think about the first podium. I’m a little disappointed, but that’s racing.
“But I’m happy. We have returned to our position and P4 is a good result for us.
“We now know that we have pace, we have good pace. So I’m looking forward to Le Mans. “
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Nakagami’s attack for fourth place included a stunning overtaking outside of Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro at Sito Pons’ right-handed, with the pair making slight contact as they moved.
Nakagami explained the overtaking and said: “There have been a lot of laps where I was behind Aleix and I was thinking about where I could overtake.
“On every lap, I thought about going into the last corner, but after Turn 12 there was always some gap [between us].
“Then I saw Fabio [Quartararo] start to shorten the lap time, then Aleix also started to drive a few tenths slower.
“Then I realized that this is the point, and if I miss that point, I will come and start a great fight.
“So I closed my eyes and tried to go into turn 4 and on turn 5 I tried to close the door. He tried to stay inside and we touched.
“On my leather suit you can see a big black spot on the right shoulder because the front tire touched my right arm. But it was a good move. “